


Episode 3-01 - "Consequences"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 3 - "The Coming Storm" [1]
Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Doctor Who, Original Work, Star Trek
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 01:58:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12807117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: The Aurora crew copes with change; Robert must choose between the family he wants and the world he left behind.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
  
Golden wheat swayed softly in the summer winds. Sunlight bathed the bedroom until the occupants of the bed awoke from it. For Robert Dale, another evening of quiet sleep without dreams left him feeling refreshed and ready for the day.  
  
Warmth pressed against his back. A pair of lips caressed his ear. "Good morning," said his wife. Julia rested her head beside his. "Do we have to get out of bed yet?"  
  
"Spring planting's done, so maybe not," he said. "But don't you have places to be today? That _t'ai chi_ class in town?"  
  
"I'll get there, don't you worry." She was ready to plant a deep, full kiss on his mouth when he turned onto his back. "But I want to start the day off right."  
  
"Ahhh…" He smiled at her. "Well, I think I can help with that…"  
  
They kissed again.  
  
  
  
  
The smell of sausage and eggs had made it upstairs by the time the couple emerged into the house proper. When they arrived downstairs Robert found Little Robby seated in his chair looking at a book. He was just old enough that he no longer required a high chair or booster seat. He looked on his parents with the eyes of his mother and said, "Good Morning… _Goooten Morgen_."  
  
" _Guten Morgen_ ," corrected a wizened voice from the kitchen. Robert's Grandma Anna emerged with a plate of sausage links and scrambled eggs, which she set before the boy. He smiled his happy child's smile at his great-grandmother giving him a peck of a kiss on the cheek. "But very close, my little one," she added with her German-accented English.  
  
"Thank you Great-Grandma." Robert Junior turned his head and smiled at his parents again.  
  
"It sounds like someone's German is improving," Julia remarked before taking a seat beside him. Robert took the next seat over.  
  
"He's doing better than I did at that age," Robert agreed.  
  
"You almost missed breakfast," Robby said reproachfully, or rather with a reproachful tone borrowed from his great grandparents. "Why?"  
  
"Oh, we just… slept in a little," Robert said, taking Julia's left hand with his right and grinning at her.  
  
The phrasing worked on a child, but the adults weren't so easy to fool. Allen Dale, who had been quiet in his corner chair, had a mischievous twinkle in his brown eyes. "What they were doing was trying to make you a new baby sibling, Robby."  
  
"Grandpa Allen!" chided Julia.  
  
The boy's eyes widened with glee. "Make it a baby sister!" he insisted. "I want a baby sister!"  
  
"We'll, uh, we'll see what we can do," Robert assured his son.  
  
"How are you gonna make her?" Robby wanted to know.  
  
That brought a hoot of laughter from the Dale patriarch across the table. "It's chemistry," he said. "You see, they mix this stuff together, and it has to be the right mix, and poof, you've got a baby. And then you have to put the baby into the momma's tummy, y'see."  
  
"Is that how you made me, Mommy?"  
  
"Grandpa is teasing you," she answered, giving him a sarcastic look.  
  
"Can I see the chemistry set?" asked the boy, still earnest.  
  
"Allen, what are you filling our little _kleiner_ 's head with?" Anna demanded to know, bringing out more plates of breakfast.  
  
"Grandma, you didn't have to cook," Robert said, accepting the offered plate anyway. "You should take it easy."  
  
"I _like_ to cook," she retorted. "Now Robert Allen, don't you dare go treating me like a…" She started to scold him in German, much to the bemusement of Julia and Grandpa Allen. Robby listened intently, clearly interested in picking up more German.  
  
The tirade, mild as it was, was interrupted by the opening of the door. "We're back," said Michael Dale. Robert's parents and sister stepped in, holding bags of groceries from the nearest country store.  
  
"Ah, there you are. Did they have everything?"  
  
"Yes, _Mutter_ ," Michael said, showing the contents of the bag. "Old Rudd's been good about keeping the stock up."  
  
"Good. Now, take seats, breakfast is ready."  
  
As they did so, Robert eyed the table and tried to keep the tears from his eyes. Four generations of his family, together for breakfast. It made him feel warm and happy.  
  
_Why do I feel like this every morning_? he wondered. They'd had family breakfasts like this for years. Why did it seem so special now?  
  
Robert looked into the cup of coffee that Anne brought in from the kitchen. His eyes met the swirling dark surface of the coffee, almost reflective. And yet, it didn't seem to reflect him. Instead it seemed focused on some science fictiony-looking place, with consoles covered in colorful keys and figures seated at them. A dark-haired man and another with lighter, almost auburn-toned hair were in the forward seats, wearing black uniforms with beige trim on one and red on the other. Behind them, in the middle chairs, sat two more figures, both with the black uniforms trimmed in red. He blinked at the image.  
  
It was him. He and Julia were sitting in those chairs, wearing those uniforms.  
  
And it felt right. That was the weird part. It didn't feel like a dream of any kind, or an idle fancy. It felt… _real_.  
  
But that was silly. Utterly silly. Why would it…?  
  
"Hey, Rob, what's so interesting in that coffee?" asked his mother.  
  
He glanced upward and noticed everyone was looking at him. He shook his head and blinked. "Sorry, I just… I suppose I spaced out." He picked up the mug and took a big drink, allowing the coffee to begin jolting him to wakefulness. When he set it back down, the surface of the drink reflected nothing. "There. I'm awake now." He smiled at them. "I'm ready to start another day."  
  
  
  
  
The Earth of Universe L2M1 had one of the largest fleet facilities in existence orbiting over it. Built to be the fleet base of the Federated Stars, it now served as the primary fleet base for the United Alliance of Systems, a union of multiple interstellar nations and species from over a dozen universes now in one body. Tubes protected the transport lifts that flitted between different segments of the colossal facility, allowing civilian and Alliance Stellar Navy personnel to move between the great structures on whatever tasks they had.  
  
Julia Megan Andreys had been waiting for this day for months. Her thoughts dwelled on it as the lift carried her from the central terminal structure to the dock structure where the largest starships were being built. She watched Earth while it was visible. It was always a sight to see the planet of her birth from orbit (or rather a copy of it, as she hailed from Earth H1E4). It reminded her of the incredible luck and fortune that had brought her to this place and these wonders.  
  
From the lift it was a short journey down carpeted corridors to the dock lounge for Docks 20 and 21. She stopped to straighten her uniform appropriately and make sure her rank tab was properly aligned with her collar. The tab had four slanted stripes of gold color on them, the insignia of a Captain in the Alliance Stellar Navy.  
  
The lounge was already full when she arrived. Bartenders were serving drinks to the assembled and a table of various finger foods had been arranged. Her eyes swept over the gathering. Most of those present were Stellar Navy officers and Alliance officials. The members of the Defense Committee were present. Dockyard officials were obviously attending too, as were various officers and even some diplomatic staff from other governments. She recognized Federation Ambassador Yal Nuren, a Bolian woman identifiable by her blue skin and the ridge of flesh along the midpoint of her bald head down her face to her neck, discussing the current conflict her government had with the Klingon Empire with Ambassador Jasina Sallina of the Asari Republics, who was a similar shade of blue but with the crest of head pieces that Tom Barnes still called "tentacles", although they were hardly long enough to warrant it. The Turian ambassador was discussing the war with the Nazi German Reich in Universe S4W8 with the white-and-purple clad ambassador from the Free Worlds League of F1S1 and the white-and-orange-uniformed ambassador of the Federated Commonwealth of the same universe. An eight foot tall, muscular woman in tight leathers stood by herself. _Do the Clans even do Ambassadors_? Julia pondered at seeing the bored genetically-engineered infantrywoman.  
  
"Do pardon me," an electronic voice trilled. Julia looked to her right and downward to see a Gl'mulli looking up at her. The green-toned alien was a gelatinous being who could only converse with the help of the electronic translator bonded by a bio-molecular material to her outermost membrane. The translator didn't just translate language, but sight as well, allowing a Gl'mulli to sense her surroundings visually instead of through the electromagnetic sensations the species typically used. Even the thought of referring to a Gl'mulli by a gendered pronoun was flawed, as the species didn't have genders in the way many others did.  
  
"My apologies," Julia answered. She moved out of the way so that the Gl'mulli could continue on to a purple-skinned, silver-horned Dre'kari that was talking with Councilman Zoral of the Alliance Defense Committee.  
  
An electronic tone sounded in the room, silencing all conversation. Heads turned toward the front of the lounge, where two windows looked out upon the docks the lounge was built between. The ships beyond were of a familiar shape to Julia. She'd seen them both before, and even if she hadn't, she'd recognize the shape. It was the same as the ship she had spent so much time on, the _Starship Aurora_ , first by supporting _Aurora_ 's construction back in the pre-Alliance days of the Facility, and then by serving on her as First Officer with the ship's captain, her dearest friend Robert Dale.  
  
Thinking of him was painful. She stopped for the moment.  
  
A figure in an Alliance Stellar Navy uniform stepped to the front of the lounge, between the two docks. Admiral Maran looked Human, like all of his people did, and you had to have a bio-scanner or knowledge of accents to recognize him as a Gersallian. His gray beard and hair still retained some dark hairs, more than one might think for someone directing a war effort that had already cost the Alliance nearly two thousand starships and a few million lives.  
  
"Good afternoon, everyone," he said to the assembled. "I welcome you to this formal commissioning party for two of the Alliance's finest new starships. To begin with, I would like to introduce you to the captains of these new vessels, who I am confident will live up to the expectations that the Alliance and her allies have placed in them. Fellow beings, I present to you the new commanding officer of the _Starship Excalibur_." Maran nodded to a woman in the group. "Captain Elizabeth King."  
  
From the crowd, a woman in her late thirties emerged. She was solidly built, with brown hair pulled into a regulation bun. Sharp brown eyes surveyed the assembled when she joined Maran. Her uniform had the branch color of red for its trim, with four gold slanted strips on the rank insignia tab on her collar.  
  
There was polite applause. Julia joined them.  
  
King took a place beside Maran. "I am grateful for the honor, Admiral," King said, her accent the same as ever, a prim, almost aristocratic English accent. "I will serve the Alliance to the best of my ability and expect the same from my crew."  
  
"Of course. And now, the new commanding officer of the _Starship Enterprise_..."  
  
Maran's eyes met Julia's as his head turned to look over the assembled. She didn't react at the nod he made. This was the moment that had been planned for, the moment he'd wanted her present for since the prior May.  
  
And then he spoke the name.  
  
"Captain Ariel Shaham."  
  
From a few feet away, the former leader of the surviving Jews of Universe S4W8 stepped through the crowd. The gray in his hair had expanded just a little in the rough year and a half since Julia had last seen him. He was built solidly, if not with size, his skin faintly tanned. When he stepped up beside Maran his brown eyes looked into the crowd. For a moment they met Julia's. She saw his face briefly twist into a look of guilt before he remembered himself. "Admiral Maran, I accept this posting with gratitude," he said. "I look forward to serving this Alliance that has sheltered my people and given us new lives."  
  
There was applause. Julia joined them despite the knotted feeling she felt within. A part of her couldn't help but think _That's supposed to be my ship_. She was supposed to be the Captain of the _Enterprise_.  
  
She watched as Maran directed the two Captains to slots in the walls facing the docks. He gestured to a box and they each removed a bottle of fine champagne. Together they placed the bottles into the slots and hit the keys beside said slots. There were a pair of _whoosh_ sounds and the bottles were shot out of compressed air launchers. Holo-viewscreens showed their motions until they slammed into their respective hulls within a second of each other. Glass shards rocketed away from the points of impact with a spray of champagne into the zero G construction docks.  
  
There was more applause at that point. When it was over Maran silently made his way to Julia. "Hello, Captain," he said formally.  
  
"Admiral, sir." Julia nodded. "Given you said you wanted me here, I couldn't pass this up."  
  
"You didn't have to come, not with the changed circumstances." Maran's expression betrayed his unease. "I'm aware that command of a ship named _Enterprise_ is a great deal for people from your culture. I'm sorry you have been denied that privilege."  
  
"I'm sorry too. Although there's a part of me that believes my place was always meant to be on the _Aurora_."  
  
"The repairs are nearly complete, I've heard."  
  
Julia nodded. "Mister Scott tells me it'll be a week before we're at full readiness. We do have warp power ready and shields, but some of the power systems are finishing their rebuilds and the teams are still finishing some work on the new plasma emitters that Fleet Operations installed in place of our old phasers."  
  
Maran replied with his own nod. "And Robert?"  
  
Julia shook her head. "No change."  
  
"You may wish to consider transferring him to the Fleet Hospital."  
  
"If he's still in the coma when we're ready to leave, I'll ask Leo to do so."  
  
"Very well."  
  
King and Shaham emerged from the crowd to join them. "Captains," Julia said. "My congratulations."  
  
"I suppose it would be out of place for me to extend the same, given the circumstances," King said. "Still, it's good to see that fourth strip on your rank tab, Captain Andreys. You'll do the service well."  
  
"Thank you, Captain King." She looked to Shaham, who evinced some slight discomfort. "Congratulations again, Captain Shaham. Although I was surprised to hear you signed up for the fleet. I thought you would be sitting on the Council on New Liberty."  
  
Shaham made a face. "I'm not a politician," he protested. "Now that we are not running for our lives from the Nazi, our people are rediscovering the full range of politics. The other Jews on New Liberty have helped with that."  
  
"In a good way or bad?" Julia asked.  
  
"Both," Shaham sighed. "EIther way, I was going mad. And since Yoni is commanding the _Eagle_ quite well, I had no wish to take it from him. I told Admiral Maran I wished to be a Captain in the Alliance. He put me through tests and told me I would get a Star Cruiser." Shaham shook his head. "I just never imagined it would be the _Enterprise_. I feel like I have stolen her from you."  
  
"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault, except maybe the Daleks and Cybermen," Julia replied. "Just treat her well and make the rest of us proud. I'll be doing the same on the _Aurora_."  
  
"That's very magnanimous of you, Captain," King observed. "I'm sure others might not have been so kind about losing a chance to command the _Enterprise_." It was clear King could see that it did bother Julia, at least a little.  
  
"Maybe not. But the _Aurora_ is also my ship. Being in command of her is more than enough to make up for it." Julia smiled slightly. "Given what might have happened, these consequences are something I can live with."  


**Undiscovered Frontier**   
**_"Consequences"_ **

  
  
_Ship's Log: 7 January 2643; ASV Aurora. Captain Julia Andreys recording_. _Nothing has happened today. The ship is still finishing its repairs. Part of the command crew is still off on leave or other assignment. Robert is still in a coma.  
  
And I find myself getting impatient over it all. Over the coma, over the repairs, over everything. It's been eleven weeks since the battle over Earth W8R4 and despite everything, I feel like I've been spinning wheels in the mud. Perhaps it's just eagerness to get back out into service. The war is still raging in S4W8, and there's tension in S5T3 over the Maquis and the Federation-Klingon conflict regarding Archanis. The Alliance needs us completing missions, not sitting in spacedock.  
  
But maybe… maybe I'm just avoiding the matter. The fact that Robert hasn't woken up yet. And with each passing day my fear grows. Maybe… he never will_.  
  
Julia decided to have dinner in the Lookout. It wasn't as busy as it would ordinarily be, given how much of the surviving crew was either on leave or reassigned. Only three or four other people were present when she walked in just past 2000 hours.  
  
It was little surprise for her to see Hargert present. He brought out a piece of pot roast and assorted sides for her with a soda drink. "It's still quiet around here, I see," Julia said.  
  
"Yes, it is." Hargert drew in a sad little sigh. "It seems so many of the others are gone, still."  
  
"Caterina's still off at that Vulcan Science Academy conference in the Federation with Ensign Arterria. Jarod's visiting his family on New Liberty. Nick's still off training pilots at the Phobos Flight Academy. Meridina and Lucy are on Gersal, and Angel is… hell, I don't have a clue. She just wanted to 'get away', as she said, and it's a big Multiverse." Julia nursed the soda. "I'm not sure I like how empty the ship feels."  
  
"It has been quiet, yes. But I do not think it will remain so. The others are all due to return soon, yes? For when the ship departs."  
  
"Yeah. And if Robert's not awake by then, we have to leave him behind."  
  
The starboard-side door to the Lookout swished opened and admitted Leo. Doctor Leonard Gillam was in a normal uniform, blue for the branch color on the trim, and had ditched his usual white lab coat. Julia nodded at him; he had a strong, rounded face, and now a beard of black hair was showing on his chin and jawline, giving a darker shade surrounded by already-dark skin. He walked up to them and asked, "Mind if I take this seat?" His brown eyes looked from Hargert to Julia.  
  
Julia shrugged and Hargert, obviously, had no quarrel with the idea. Leo slipped into a seat while Hargert went off to get him something to eat. "You look like you've had a sour day."  
  
"I haven't had a day. Not a real one. Even the paperwork load is light."  
  
"What's our crew situation like?"  
  
"Well, 1,400 survivors of the Daleks and Cybermen, roughly, and about half have been promoted or transferred, especially the wounded." Julia tapped her spoon against her plate, ignoring for the moment the yellow corn at that corner. "Outside of the engineering crew and some of the ops officers, most of the rest are doing other temp assignments with fleet HQ or they're on leave." She crossed her arms. "When we get back out there, over half of the crew is going to be new."  
  
"Ah." Leo put his hands together on the table. "And how are you holding up? You have the look of someone very displeased with the world in general."  
  
"Is this another of those attempts to get me back for all the times I was trying to make you more cheerful?"  
  
Leo pretended to think on it for a moment. "I have to consider that one… yes. Yes it is. So, do you want to tell me what's bugging you?"  
  
Julia considered deflecting the question. At the last moment she didn't. "I've known since the first of the year that I'm the full captain of the _Aurora_ now but it still feels like, on some level, I'm not supposed to be here." She rested her head on her hand. "And then when I think about it… Maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm supposed to be on the _Enterprise_. Maybe I'm supposed to be dead from blowing the ship up to stop the Daleks and that 'Darkness' that was going to come out of the rift they formed. Because Rob should be here." She gave him a knowing look.  
  
"No change," Leo answered. "I'm sorry."  
  
Julia sighed. She hadn't dared to think there would be one. "Any luck with the telepaths?"  
  
Leo shook his head. "There's no response from his mind."  
  
That caused Julia to swallow. "So he's, what, brain-dead?"  
  
"No. His brain's functioning just fine," Leo insisted. "Hell, I'd almost think he was awake with the EEG readings. But he's just not awake. Whatever that TARDIS thing did to him…"  
  
"Right." She frowned. "Maybe we should ask Cat if there's a way to reach the Doctor."  
  
"The Doctor made it clear he didn't have any idea what would happen," Leo pointed out. "Honestly, Julia, I think we just have to wait and see. I've seen reports of people remaining comatose for _decades_ and then waking up like nothing happened."  
  
Leo quickly regretted proposing that possibility given the look of sheer _pain_ that appeared on Julia's face. "We're going to have to leave him behind, you know," she said.  
  
"I figured. Doctor McPherson left me a message today on scheduling his transfer to the long-term treatment wing."  
  
Hargert returned at that moment, carrying the same meal for Leo and a glass of Leo's favored tea. He smiled at them quietly before departing, leaving them to their conversation.  
  
Julia waited for Leo to take his first bite before saying, "Beth's talking about transferring him to the Colony Hospital."  
  
"I can understand that," Leo said. "But it's probably for the best that he remain here. At least until we understand his condition more."  
  
"Right." Julia took another bite of her rapidly cooling meal. The subject matter was killing her appetite, but if she didn't eat, her stomach would be grumbling when she tried to get some sleep.  
  
Sensing that she needed a change of subject, Leo asked, "Have you heard anything about Zack?"  
  
"Zack?" Julia finished swallowing. "The _Koenig_ is still with the 10th Attack Squadron based out of Eta Leckie."  
  
"I heard they have him escorting transports and hospital ships," Leo said. "I imagine he's bored out of his skull."  
  
Julia shrugged. "I'm sure he's staying busy."  
  
  
  
  
Bright white energy streaked across the void, launched from a ship that was even now fading from view. The torpedoes were on course to hit a single vessel, a transport ship with large cargo pods laid out on both sides of the central spine of its structure. One pod had already been opened to space by a hit through shields that had long since failed. Now these torpedoes would possibly add to that loss or, if on target, destroy the entire ship.  
  
They didn't get the chance. Another ship intercepted them. Their electronic systems attempted to evade, but the maneuver of the intercepting ship hadn't made it possible for the torpedoes to do so. They slammed into the ship's shields and detonated. The shaped anti-matter charges pierced the shields of the _ASV Koenig_ and scorched the ship's azure hull along the ventral side.  
  
On the bridge of the _Koenig_ the vessel rocked from the direct hit. "We took bleedthrough damage to Deck 4," reported Lieutenant Magda Navaez, operations officer for the ship. The Colombian-born woman looked over her sensor screen from her seat on the port side of the bridge, her console facing outward like the others along the sides. "They've already recloaked."  
  
"I couldn't get a lock before they did," said Lieutenant April Sherlily, the tactical officer one station astern of Magda's.  
  
Commander Zachary Carrey was seated alone in the center of the bridge. In front of him, the sole bow-facing station was the helm, where his First Officer Lieutenant Creighton Apley was seated. The two were roughly of the same build, but Zack's brown hair contrasted with the lighter brown hair of Apley. Zack's thoroughly 20th-21st Century Midwestern accent, the product of an upbringing in Kansas, was also quite different from Apley's Midwestern accent that had developed in the future timeframe of Universe D3R1's Earth. "Status on the _Rochester Comet_?" he asked Magda.  
  
"Their shields are still down and they've got structural damage, if they take another hit it could destroy the entire ship," was Magda's answer.  
  
"Damn." Zack frowned. "If they couldn't keep up with the convoy they shouldn't have left Eta Leckie Base." He would have to file a very negative report on Captain Kelton, presuming they both survived this. "And we can't keep this up forever…"  
"We need distance," insisted Sherlily. "Then I can get a shot when they try to decloak."  
  
"But then we'll be out of position to stop incoming fire," Apley pointed out. "The transport won't survive the hit."  
  
Zack considered the problem quietly. A solution was forming in his mind as he considered the likely attack vector of the Reich attack ship, and said ship's situation. The Nazi attack ships weren't made to fight like his ship were, after all; they were made to decloak, fire torpedoes, and then recloak and run if they had to.  
  
He tapped a key on his chair. "Bridge to Engineering."  
  
" _Engineering here_ ," replied Lieutenant Karen Derbely, the ship's Chief Engineer.  
  
"Karen, do you think our tractor beam could be set up to push the _Rochester Comet_ out of the way?"  
  
" _For a few seconds, perhaps. It's at just the right size that our tractor beam could pull or push it for that long_."  
  
"Then make the necessary preparations," he ordered.  
  
" _Standby… done_."  
  
"Magda, use the tractor beam to repel the transport the moment that Nazi decloaks. Apley, put us above them and to starboard, and I want the tractor beam emitters lined up to face the ship. April, I want a spread of solar torpedoes set to detonate automatically when they reach a certain distance."  
  
Apley nodded and maneuvered the ship. Magda confirmed her readiness as well.  
  
All that was left was to wait. That was the worst part since Zack couldn't be sure this is what the enemy ship would do. He was trying to guess what this commander would do. Would he recognize this was a trap and attack from somewhere else? There was no way to know. All he could do was wait and see what happened.  
  
The Reich attack ship decloaked after another thirty seconds had passed. The captain had placed his ship below and to the port of the _Rochester Comet_. Just as Zack hoped he would.  
  
Even as the torpedoes launched from the squat, shark-like ship's forward section, the tractor beam on the _Koenig_ flashed to life. A ribbon of blue energy linked _Koenig_ to the transport she was protecting and sent it flying sideways through space. From the bow of the _Koenig_ a spread of solar torpedoes launched and turned toward the enemy attack ship, even now cloaking.  
  
Its shots missed, and the dorsal phaser array dispensed with them before they could turn back.  
  
Meanwhile the solar torpedoes reached their programmed distance and detonated. There was a sudden flicker in space. The Nazi attack ship reappeared, debris and atmosphere flowing from a sudden wound in its side.  
  
The _Koenig_ orientated on the enemy ship under Apley's control. Sherlily triggered the forward pulse phasers as soon as she had a lock. Amber energy burst from the forward emitters. The Reich attack ship's shields snapped into place. But the firepower they were facing was beyond the shields' endurance, especially with the damage the ship had taken from the torpedo blast wave. They failed under the _Koenig_ 's barrage, allowing the final shots from the barrage to smash into unshielded hull. There were more bursts of flame and gas and debris from the enemy ship followed by an intense white fireball that all who saw it recognized as the result of a anti-matter losing containment. When the blast receded, there was nothing but small pieces of debris to mark the defeated foe.  
  
"Ha!" shouted Zack, and the others cheered as well. "Magda, get Kelton for me," he said. "Find out how long before his warp drive is back online."  
  
"Yes sir," she said, plainly happy. And for a good reason.  
  
"And let him know I'll send our engineers over if we have to in order to get him moving," Zack added. "I'm not letting this jerk and his crappy ship keep us from getting our leave time."  
  
"A week of leave and then back to the _Aurora_ ," Sherlily said with a little sigh. "I can taste Hargert's sausage stew already."  
  
"It sounds like you are looking forward to that more than your leave," Magda said.  
  
"Oh, don't get me wrong. Roliri, Karen, and I have five days of kayaking on the Ulysses River on New Appalachia coming up," Sherlily announced. "What about you?"  
  
"I'm going home to New Liberty to visit my family," was Magda's reply.  
  
"I'm heading home myself," said Apley.  
  
"And I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves," said Zack, smiling.  
  
"While you're off on New Caprica visiting your girlfriend," Magda said.  
  
"Yes," he said, feeling palpable eagerness to make the trip. "If only we can get this idiot in gear. If this takes much longer I'll make Kelton get out and push his damn ship back to Eta Leckie."  
  
That mental image made everyone chuckle.  
  
  
  
  
The Vulcan lecture hall reminded Caterina somewhat of a high school auditorium, at least in basic structure, with a wide range of seats facing a central stage with a podium and a number of monitors. Currently a Vulcan scientist, Suvel, was standing and giving a lecture on the interaction of subspace with the other forms of faster-than-light travel discovered since Multiversal Contact for the Federation. Cat was seated five rows back and toward the speaker's left. On one side she had Violeta at the row's end-seat, who looked like she was falling asleep. On the other side the seat was an Efrosian woman in a Starfleet science uniform. Beyond the Efrosian was an Asari, a Brakiri, a Hermat, and another Human; a Turian and a Minbari were behind her.  
  
"...testing on Stardate 49538.4 demonstrated the correlation between the Mass Relays of M4P2 and the theorized possibility of subspace tunnels," Suvel was saying. "With this discovery the possibility of new avenues into subspace-based transportation…"  
  
Caterina glanced over to Violeta, who now seemed completely asleep. For the moment Cat tuned out the Vulcan professor to look at Violeta and feel very guilty about bringing her to this. _I had a leave that we could have used to do anything, and I insist on coming to this conference. And it's not even a good one_. _Some of the things these people are saying are…_  
  
She stopped herself. It wasn't fair to think those thoughts, not to these scientists. They hadn't had the opportunity to see other things that she had enjoyed. They hadn't seen time and space in the company of a being like the Doctor.  
  
The Doctor! To actually have met the being listed in the Darglan databases was one thing, but getting to travel with him? That had been the kind of experience Cat had never dared dream of, even after they found the Facility. From her perspective they had spent a year traveling across time and space in his universe, hunting for a breach in the fifth dimensional barrier he could use to contact Rose Tyler or, perhaps, even bring her back. In the end the best they'd managed was an indication of a breach several months after the Battle of Canary Wharf, and a supernova that could be used to fuel a communication via the TARDIS through said breach. With the ostensible reason for her presence on the TARDIS over, the Doctor had brought Caterina home to within minutes of when they left. Since then she'd had to re-adjust to the old routines, and make up for her lost time with Violeta and Angel.  
  
Suvel's presentation finished. Caterina was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had forgotten she was next. It wasn't until Professor T'Rya, the presenter of the conference, called her name that Caterina remembered herself. She blinked before standing up. Violeta stirred as well and stood with her, giving Cat a kiss on the cheek for good luck. Cat responded with a smile and walked down the aisle stairway toward the central stage. She activated her omnitool and linked it to the presentation projector to load her presentation to the conference.  
  
Seeing the crowd made her swallow with apprehension. But it was with a clear voice, and no sign of the shy stutter she once might have suffered, that Caterina introduced herself. "Greetings to my esteemed colleagues," she said, looking at a crowd that was composed of scientists from across the Multiverse. "I am Lieutenant Caterina Delgado of the Alliance Stellar Navy, Science Officer of the _Starship Aurora_." She noted the bottled water and gratefully picked one up to wet her throat. "And I'm here to present new research into the nature of subspace's interactions with hyperspatial domains. Since the Multiversal Era began…"  
  
As Caterina began her presentation, she felt a pang of regret. She was here, speaking to a crowd without a moment's stutter, and her girlfriend was watching happily…  
  
...but her sister was nowhere to be seen.  
  
_I wish you were here_ was one thought that came to her. As she activated a display showing the E5B1 universe's preferred layer of hyperspace, a second thought crossed her mind.  
  
_Where are you anyway, Angel?_  
  
  
  
  
One common concept for space-faring species and nations was the idea of the permanent frontier. Unlike a pre-spaceflight species stuck on one world, there was no innate, finite amount of territory that could be settled. The frontier had no limit. Certainly a world could grow to the point it was no longer on the frontier, but there was always another star, another planet, just beyond the metaphorical horizon, waiting for someone to settle upon them. And so the frontier would move onward.  
  
The thing about frontiers, of course, is that they tend to be unkind places. Which was certainly a fair way to describe the colonial town of Hendonville, on the planet designated Corwin.  
  
The roar of the crowd in the grungy backroom washed over Angela Delgado and brought back old memories, memories of amateur fights in gyms throughout Kansas and into neighboring states. Her current location might have passed for such, in fact, if not for darker lights, the money changing hands among those in attendance, and the cage.  
  
And the lack of safety equipment. That was another telling factor.  
  
The fact that the cage was electrified was a rather unnecessary detail at that point.  
  
Angel slipped off her jacket, revealing the black sports bra she was wearing underneath, as well as the rippling, defined muscle on her arms, shoulders, stomach, and much of her back not covered by the fabric of her top. Had she been wearing shorts and not sweatpants the muscular definition of her legs would have been on display as well. Her skin was one of the darker shades in the room, a brown that had regained color in the prior weeks since her return to living under suns.  
  
She stepped through the cage door and heard the click of the lock behind her. A very low buzz came seconds later as the electrical current for the cage was turned on.  
  
Standing across the way was the current champion. He was six feet tall and shirtless, showing off the muscular build on his lightly tanned skin. A scar ran down the side of his left cheek. Brown eyes glinted with malice as a sneer formed across the man's face. "Well ain't that precious?" he asked rhetorically, although he didn't sound like the kind of person to understand what that meant. "Cute little girl muscles."  
  
The crowd laughed.  
  
Angel considered a retort and decided anything would be wasted on her opponent, and probably on the crowd. Instead her hazel eyes smoldered with disgust and contempt for him. She finished flexing her arms as a warmup and tilted her head to either side, loosening the muscles in her neck. A quick check confirmed the dirtied white bandages around her knuckles and fingers were intact. It was the best she'd get instead of proper gloves.  
  
The bell rang. Her opponent charged. His fist flew in for her face. She caught the blow with her forearms. A second blow she dodged by ducking slightly. He snarled and tried to kick her, but Angel side-stepped that blow  
  
For several seconds he wailed at her and Angel deflected or avoided the blows. It wasn't her usual fighting style to be sure. Every fiber of her being burned to retaliate, but she wasn't going to do that. Not just yet. She wanted to get a feel for this fellow and how he fought.  
  
Perhaps it was her unfamiliarity with defensive stances that finally gave the champion his opening. Or he moved faster than anticipated. Either way, there was a sudden impact and rush of pain on the left side of her face. Raw force drove Angel back into the cage. Electricity surged from the metal and into her body, causing her to cry out until she fell away from it. Angel dropped to hands and knees. Some of her muscles spasmed in pain and she knew that she'd have a bruise on her face tomorrow. Blood trickled around her nose and mouth.  
  
"Aww, does the girlie have a boo-boo?" her opponent asked mockingly. The crowd laughed.  
  
Angel wiped the blood from her face and smiled.  
  
Fight long enough, and you can get a feel for opponents. Specifically, you can tell the real ones from the fakes. Angel had been in enough fights to learn this herself.  
  
Which is how she knew her opponent wasn't the real thing.  
  
A real fighter, even a showboat, would have put her down first. He certainly wouldn't have turned his back to raise his arms to the crowd. But this guy wasn't that. Local top of the heap, maybe, but ultimately just a guy with muscles and a barroom brawl-level knowledge of fighting.  
  
That could be dangerous, of course. Angel had met some damn good brawlers in her time. But they'd put this guy in his place just as easy as she intended to.  
  
She stood up. Her opponent turned toward her and smirked, but that didn't match the mocking smile on her face. Angel flexed an arm, assumed a stance, and made a "Come get me" wave with the four fingers on her left hand.  
  
He came at her again. His fist was raised for another punch. Nor he and the crowd saw it coming.  
  
Suddenly her hand was flat and smacking his throat. His eyes widened in shock and pain. He stumbled, trying to regain breath, and Angel whirled about and kicked him in the jaw. Blood and a tooth flew free from his mouth. He fell over in shock.  
  
Angel could have gone for the submission hold. But she held back. This fight wasn't over until she decided it was, and so she waited patiently for the champion to stand back up. He was livid with rage and didn't bother with anything but a furious charge.  
  
This time Angel side-stepped him entirely. Before he could recover, she delivered a kick to his back that sent him on into the cage wall. His body spasmed upon contact with the electrical current running through the metal. He stumbled back and fell, landing onto his back and rear on the mat.  
  
Angel let him recover. Pure rage burned in his eyes now, mixed with a fear not present before. He realized he was fighting someone beyond his usual foes. Angel wasn't someone he could intimidate or easily overpower. He avoided a heedless charge and brought his arms up into a defensive stance. "I can take whatever you dish out, bitch!"  
  
That made Angel grin. She wiped a bit of the blood still trickling from her mouth and nose away before charging at him. Her attack started with a couple of jabs and kicks at him to test his defensive stance and let him block those without giving him any openings.  
  
This led him into a false sense of security as well, which was just what she hoped would happen before she cut loose.  
  
For the crowd, the site was astonishing. Their scar-faced champion was suddenly reeling. Punches too fast for him to catch pummeled his face, then a kick took him in the belly. He flailed back toward the edge of the cage and caught himself just shy of it.  
  
Angel dropped low and threw a punch she'd been holding back for the right moment. Said punch struck her opponent between the legs with the full force her arm permitted.  
  
The crowd's reaction was a mix of surprise, anger, and cheering.  
  
The champion, on the other hand, squeaked a cry of sheer pain and doubled over before dropping to all fours. The strike left him stunned and on all fours.  
  
Angel knelt down beside him and put him in a headlock. "That was for the girls," she hissed at him in a voice low enough that only he could hear her.  
  
"What?" he squeaked back.  
  
"I know what you are, Mr. Talbot. They told me what you did to them. If you don't want me to pummel the ever-living shit out of you, _stay down_."  
  
"Bitch!" was the response, and a wild punch that nausea and disorientation made far too wild to connect. It did extend his arm enough for Angel to grab it. She twisted it out of place and, with an extra twist, bent and twisted it enough to dislocate his shoulder. He shrieked in pain.  
  
Angel threw a punch across his face that nearly broke her knuckles. It did break his nose as a side-effect to knocking him out.  
  
As the crowd cheered and booed, the organizer outside of the ring started counting down. With her adrenaline pumping Angel couldn't be too sure of the count's accuracy, but she suspected that it was slower than it should have been, with ten seconds being more like fifteen or twenty. But Talbot remained unconscious the entire time.  
  
After reaching a very reluctant ten, the fight MC shut down the electricity on the cage and unlocked it. He stepped in and went up to Angel. She didn't resist him gripping her right wrist and lifting her arm up in triumph. She gave the crowd a triumphant grin and raised her left arm over her head as well. "Ladies and gentlemen, your new champion, the Angry Angel!"  
  
Applause, boos, and some wolf whistles came from the dozens in the crowd.  
  
Angel left the cage. One of the other staff for the ring walked up and handed her a wad of bills, representing her prize for the fight. She could feel malevolent gazes on her as she walked toward the exit. Talbot had clearly been the favorite of many, and more importantly, the one they'd bet on. She had just cost a lot of angry people money.  
  
Angel was just shy of the door leading out when a familiar voice said, "Nice fight." She turned and faced a man who looked in his mid to late thirties, dark-haired, in a dark brown jacket, trousers, and gray shirt. "We might want to get some ice on your face, though."  
  
" _Jarod_?" Angel asked, incredulous.  
  
Her friend and comrade from the _Aurora_ , the Operations Officer compared to her role as Chief Tactical Officer, answered that with a grin and a nod. "So, where are you staying?" Jarod indicated the sullen, angry faces still in the crowd. "Because we might want to leave before your new fans come looking for you."  
  
Angel sighed and nodded. "Follow me," she said. "I wasn't going to use the shower here anyway."  
  
  
  
  
The trip into town went as it usually did for Robert and Julia. She went off for her _t'ai chi_ class and he visited the contractors the family farm worked with.  
  
After a day of checking on them, Robert was waiting outside of Julia's training studio when he noticed the shadow loom beside him. He turned his head to face the newcomer. The black and purple-striped jacket with dark trousers and a proper matching shirt spoke of someone with specific taste. The tall man's brown eyes focused on him and a friendly smile crossed his face. "Hello there," he said in a cheery voice, one with a clear English accent. "You're Robert Dale, right? The new Chairman of the Family Farm Association?"  
  
"I am," answered Robert. He extended a hand and the Englishman accepted it. "I've never seen you around before."  
  
"Oh, I just moved in. I'm the new doctor in town. Honestly that's what people usually just call me. 'The Doctor'."  
  
"Just that?" Robert chuckled. "Don't you have another na-..."  
  
Suddenly a sharp pain stabbed Robert in the forehead. He cried out and fell into the Doctor's arms before everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Julia hadn't bothered putting anything but her nightrobe on over her nightgown before storming to the medbay. Doctor Singh intercepted her halfway to the door to the care ward. "Captain, it's alright," the Sikh woman insisted.  
  
"What happened?" Julia demanded. "Leo said something…"  
  
Leo stepped out of the ward. He glanced toward Julia and shook his head, sighing. "That's really not necessary," he said to her.  
  
"Is Rob okay?"  
  
"He's still alive and his vitals are strong." Leo gestured to the door. Julia looked into the ward and saw Robert still on his bed, unmoving. "The EEG spike was peculiar. I wanted you to find out in the morning."  
  
"I was up looking over Scotty's repair log for the day," Julia said, trying not to sound too defensive about her own reaction.  
  
"At five in the morning?" Leo asked without bothering to hide his skepticism.  
  
"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep," she answered.  
  
"Ah." Leo nodded. He turned to Doctor Singh, who smiled back and stepped away. "Doctor Singh's going to give you a mild sleep aid," he said to her. "Then you can go back to your quarters and get some proper sleep."  
  
Julia crossed her arms and glared at him. "You're just trying to shoo me away."  
  
"You could say that," said Leo. "Or you could say I'm trying to preserve the Captain's dignity by not having her tromp around the ship in her nightgown."  
  
Julia answered with a frustrated little growl. "You're enjoying this far too much," she charged.  
  
"I am," Leo admitted.  
  
"I need more sleep anyway, but I still want updates."  
  
"I will make sure you get updates every morning. Around 0800."  
  
"And what about you? You don't come on before 0700 usually."  
  
"I'm also the Chief Medical Officer, and I'm responsible for all patients. When our coma patient has a new change to condition, I get called. That's because this is actually my job." Leo nodded to Singh, who stepped up and used a hypospray on Julia's partially-bare left arm. Julia rubbed the injection point absent-mindedly. "Now you've got maybe five minutes before that starts to kick in. Plenty of time to get back to your quarters if you catch the lift."  
  
Julia took the hint and left.  
  
Leo watched her leave with a small smile, one tinged with sadness. "I think she blames herself," said Doctor Singh. "That's what it feels like."  
  
"Survivor's guilt," Leo murmured. A yawn escaped his throat. "I'm going to take my own advice and get some more sleep as well. See you in the morning, Doctor."  
  
"Of course, Doctor," Singh answered. "Get as much rest as you need."  
  
  
  
  
The ER room in the county hospital was not the kind of place Robert liked to be. He hadn't been in one since rushing Julia to the hospital for Little Robby's delivery, in fact. But now he was the patient, hooked up to all sorts of monitors and medical things.  
  
Having Leo shining a bright light into his eye didn't help his mood.  
  
"I'm fine," grumbled Robert.  
  
"People who are fine don't get sudden stabbing headaches that cause them to black out," Leo pointed out.  
  
Robert might have appealed that. But one look from Julia and he didn't. She clearly intended for him to take full advantage of the offered medical care.  
  
"We're going to run a full battery of tests on you to make sure this won't be a recurring issue," Leo said to him, but for the benefit of Julia. "I'll go arrange that now."  
  
After he left the room Robert laid back on the hospital bed and turned his head to Julia. She gripped his right hand with her own and smiled softly at him. "I'm sure it's nothing major," she said. "Sometimes things just happen."  
  
"Yeah," Robert said. "Sometimes."  
  
"So, who was that tall English guy, the one who called 911 for you?" Julia asked. "We didn't get to talk."  
  
"He's a new doctor in the area, I didn't catch the name," Robert answered. He put his left hand to his forehead.  
  
"Well, hopefully you'll see him again," she said. "Then I'll get to thank him."  
  
"We both will," was Robert's answer to that.  
  
  
  
  
Jarod had helped Angel pack up after she was out of the shower. After donning a set of civilian clothes - blue sports jacket, white sleeveless tank top, gray sweatpants - she checked out, much to the gratitude of the manager who had heard of her victory and was worried Talbot's friends and fans might show up, and Jarod drove them out of Hendonville for the planetary capital of Corwinville. On the open paved highway that linked the two towns there was no speed limit, and Jarod had a full-speed aircar at his disposal. The two hundred kilometer distance thus disappeared in the space of ninety minutes.  
  
Only when the lights of Corwinville beckoned ahead did Angel finally speak. "So, how did you find me?"  
  
"It took me a little effort," Jarod said. "You've been pretty careful about paying cash. But your identity card still gets scanned on most worlds."  
  
"But not here. Corwin's an independent world with barely any government, they wouldn't scan anyone."  
  
"That was guess-work," Jarod admitted. "I looked at everything close to the last Alliance system you passed through. Corwin stood out, especially when I read about the attacks." Jarod frowned slightly at that. "Do you think kicking Talbot around will keep him from forcing himself on any more young women?"  
  
"I hope it'll give him a second thought," Angel said. "And beating his ass felt good too."  
  
"I'm sure it did. I'm just not sure it helped much in the long term. He might take it out on more victims."  
  
"Maybe. Or maybe the others will hear about him getting his ass handed back to him by a girl and he'll have more trouble than it's worth getting frisky." Nevertheless Angel was frowning. "Maybe if I had the means I would have done something more permanent."  
  
"Why not turn him in? To the authorities?"  
  
"What authorities? This planet's virtually run by a mining company," Angel guffawed. "And their managers are making money off the fighting. And on a crappy world like this, even a half-baked talent like Talbot can become king of the ring."  
  
"Or the cage." Jarod shook his head.  
  
"So why did you come after me anyway?" Angel asked. "I told Julia I just wanted some time to myself."  
  
"Yeah, and she passed that onto me." Jarod didn't take his eyes from the road. The car was slowing; they were reaching the outskirts of Corwinville. "So I decided to keep an eye on you."  
  
"I don't need a damn babysitter," Angel growled.  
  
"Normally, no. But you know me. I've studied psychiatric medicine before."  
  
"Jarod, you've studied _everything_ before."  
  
" _Touche_. But my point remains. I knew you were going through problems…"  
  
"And you can stop right there," Angel insisted.  
  
They came up to an intersection. A red light lit up overhead from a holo-emitter prompting Jarod to stop. "Angel, you can't bottle this up forever," he said.  
  
Angel frowned at him. "One more word and I'm out."  
  
Jarod sighed openly. "You're being…"  
  
Before Jarod even started with "stubborn", Angel stepped out of the aircar. By the time she made it to the side of the road, the light turned green. Jarod had to turn and leave the road to pull up beside her. The anti-gravs under the aircar sent up plumes of dust and grass. "Alright, point made, you don't want to talk," he said.  
  
Angel nodded briskly and climbed back into the passenger seat. "Do you have transportation?" she asked.  
  
"I called Beth Rankin and got a courier shuttle from the Colony's shuttle pool," Jarod confirmed. "One of the old Darglan drive models we built back in the Facility days, so it's capable of Warp 6. If we leave tonight, we'll be back in Alliance space by tomorrow." Conscious of his own growing need, Jarod asked, "Are you hungry? There's a diner near the starport that looked good."  
  
Angel nodded. "Sure. I'm always up for a greasy spoon after a good fight." She smiled at him. "You're paying though."  
  
"Oh? You're the one with a wad of fight winnings in your pocket."  
  
To that, Angel's smile turned almost malevolent. "Oh, that? I already spent it."  
  
Jarod blinked. "On _what_?"  
  
"A bribe," Angel admitted. "It turns out that whatever Talbot's paying the sheriff in Hendonville to cover up for him, it's really not a lot."  
  
"It's got to be more than the prize money of a single fight."  
  
"Oh, it is." Angel settled back into her seat, arms raised and hands behind her head in a pose of relaxation that pulled up her tank top enough to display the muscled abs around her navel. "Which is why I placed a bunch of bets on myself before the fight. It turns out you can make a lot of money betting against the local champ if you know he's going to lose."  
  
Jarod couldn't help himself. He had to laugh at that. "Nice work," he said.  
  
"Thank you. Now, let's go get some food, and get off this crappy planet."  
  
  
  
  
Robert's return home was met with a meal. After enjoying his grandmother's cooking yet again, the family gathered in the den to watch the large plasma screen television that served as another reminder of how well they were doing these days. The channel was set to a pay-per-view professional fighting bout being waged in St. Louis. They cheered the sight of Angel fighting another woman, a blond Caucasian, and overpowering her in round after round.  
  
"Why is Auntie Angel fighting?" Little Robby inquired from his place on the main couch between his parents.  
  
"Because she likes it," Robert said to him. "It's like a sport to her."  
  
"But Uncle Zack doesn't hit people with his bat," the boy pointed out.  
  
"Or at least, he hasn't in awhile," Robert said, remembering an old game during their high school days. He tousled his son's blond hair. "Uncle Zack plays a different sport."  
  
"Back in my day, girls didn't punch each other like that," Grandma Anna remarked. "Not on television, anyway."  
  
"Did girls have muscles?" Little Robby asked.  
  
"Only on farms," she replied.  
  
On the screen Angel threw a punch that sent her opponent flying onto her back. The ten second count commenced and ended without the other woman getting up. The room filled with applause at the count of ten. The referee raised Angel's arm in victory and a commentator started speaking about the fight’s outcome.  
  
"Angel's only a couple victories away from a championship bout now," Julia said. "She could win it all."  
  
"I'm sure she will," said Robert. "So, who wants some dessert?"  
  
Naturally the first response was from his son, a jubilant " _Ice cream!_ "  
  
  
  
  
Kerri's Diner and Bar reminded Angel of a whole number of small family diners she'd seen, and eaten at, during her lifetime. The booths were modestly comfortable with their green-colored plush seating, the table a pleasant brown wood pattern even if it was obviously a composite plastic table and not actual wood. The usual condiments for a diner were present at the window end of the table. Salt, pepper, sugar packets, and small containers of various fruit jellies flanking the napkin dispenser.  
  
The remnants of two meals were on the table. Angel used her straw to take another drink of orange juice while Jarod finished the last piece of a toasted roast beef sandwich. "I can't believe I missed this place when I landed," she said, contented.  
  
"I think it's funny that this places looks like it could fit into the 20th Century with just a few changes." Jarod motioned to the bar counter where other customers were eating.  
  
"Some people like the classics."  
  
After that was noted, silence fell. The awkward moment passed when Angel asked, "How is the family?"  
  
"They're doing well." Jarod sipped at the coffee from his mug for a moment. "Emily's making her way as a reporter. Apparently Beth considers her to be something of a pain."  
  
Angel laughed, although it came out as something of a snort. "And your dad?"  
  
"He's trained as a transport pilot and joined a carrier transport service."  
  
"I'm glad they're settling in," Angel said. "After everything that happened with the Centre…"  
  
Jarod nodded without a word at that sentiment.  
  
"Have you ever finished sorting through that data we stole?" Angel asked.  
  
"To be honest, I haven't touched that lately," Jarod answered. "My family's safe. I can't imagine Mister Raines is still alive, and Miss Parker…" Jarod shook his head. "She made her choice. I'm not sure where she would be, but I'm not going to risk everything to look for her."  
  
"And your Mom?" Angel picked at a last scrap of her hashed potatoes. "I still wonder why we didn't pick her up once we got back to the ship."  
  
"We had other concerns at the time, and my father insists that she's safe," Jarod answered. "If we had remained in orbit, the Centre might have tracked our activity. And there was the fact that we had wounded and tired people."  
  
"Right." Angel crossed her arms. "Did you ever get that request through to get your mother out?"  
  
Jarod nodded. "I submitted everything to Admiral Maran. But I've yet to hear back from him."  
  
"Considering all of the permissions he has to get from the officials in the government…" Angel frowned. "Back in the day, we didn't have this. We'd have just flown a ship to pick her up."  
  
"This isn't then."  
  
"Yeah. Now we've got chains of command, authorities and laws…"  
  
Given the look coming over his face, it was clear Jarod knew where this line of discussion was going. "There are tradeoffs, yes."  
  
"It's ridiculous," fumed Angel. "I get it, they don't want to cause your home Earth to go nuts on finding out all of this insane Multiverse stuff. Fine! We sneak into orbit and get your mother out, bam, we're done. But nope, that would be against the law. Just like every other good thing we did back then was supposed to be, y'know? And… and here we are, on a world where I had to bribe the authorities to put a rapist piece of crap in jail, and we don't do crap about it."  
  
Jarod finished taking a drink by the time she finished. "It almost sounds like you want to leave."  
  
"I guess so, and why not?" Angel shrugged. "Cat's got her life now. She doesn't need big sis hovering around her protectively anymore. Robert and I are done, for good. That's not changing whether or not he wakes up again. He doesn't need me around to remind him of how we screwed that up."  
  
"And you don't need him around to remind _you_ ," Jarod pointed out. When she scowled at him, he continued, "So you feel lost. You're not sure what you're doing anymore."  
  
"Don't psycho-analyze me, dammit."  
  
"This isn't psycho-analyzing," Jarod retorted. "This is obvious fact. You're used to being Cat's guardian and to watching Robert's back. Now they don't need that, and you're not sure of what you're doing anymore. And you're thinking of walking away."  
  
"Okay, sure, yeah," she said. "Maybe so."  
  
"Then why did you ask to go to the _Enterprise_ with Julia?" asked Jarod. "If you're not sure you want to be a part of the Alliance anymore, why ask for that transfer?"  
  
For a moment Angel didn't answer. "Because she's my friend," was what she ultimately said. "Because I wasn't thinking the same way at the time. I… I just wanted to get away, I guess."  
  
"From Robert," Jarod remarked.  
  
"Yeah." Angel chuckled. It was a bitter noise. "Boy did I get that wish. Now he might never wake up."  
  
"You don't blame yourself for that, do you?"  
  
"No. That was Robert being the White Knight again. For all the good it's done him." Angel gave him a gloomy look. "I just… I feel like a fifth wheel right now, Jarod. And I'm asking myself what I'm doing, sitting shifts at the tactical station with nothing going on, filling out reports, running exercises. I miss the old days when we didn't have to put up with that."  
  
"I know the feeling." Jarod nodded. "And I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it sometimes. But let's be honest. We need something like the Alliance to fight things like the Dominion, the Batarians…"  
  
"...the Nazis," Angel finished for him.  
  
"I figured that one was obvious. Because we both know we'd have been nothing to them but maybe a nuisance back in the old days."  
  
Angel didn't bother replying to that.  
  
"Are you going to leave?" Jarod asked. "I mean, resign from the Alliance?"  
  
There was a heavy moment when she seemed unwilling to answer the question. When she did, she shrugged and said, "I don't know yet. I can't leave until the war is over anyway, so I'll think about it."  
  
Jarod nodded at her response. After several seconds to show he was dropping the conversation subject, he said, "Well, let's go pay for the meal. I need to get that shuttle back to New Liberty before we return to the _Aurora_."  
  
"Right. Remember what I said."  
  
"Yeah, I do." He smirked before standing up. "I'm paying."  
  
Angel responded with a slight grin.  
  
A similar grin was on the face of a figure in the far corner of the diner. Neither noticed it, nor said figure moving to follow them after they left.  
  
  
  
  
There were many sights for one to see on the planet Gersal. Jantarihal's grand spires, the majestic round structures of the Great Temple of Swenya, the rainbows thrown up by the Falls of Hentan.  
  
Lucilla Lucero - Lucy to her friends - was ready to add the Temple of Perception to that list.  
  
The Temple of Perception, as it was called, was more of a cave, carved into the mountain of Talmatan in the southern mountain range of Jaldiran. The continent of Jaldiran was across the Inner Sea from the main continent of Pantiram, where Jantarihal and the Great Temple were found. But it was also the continent where Swenya was born, and Talmatan was a mere twenty kilometers from Trubin. Today one of the largest cities on Jaldiran, it had been nothing but a poor village when Swenya was recorded as being born there, and its importance was such that the Order maintained a Temple there and supported the pilgrims and visitors who came to examine the preserved elements from the Grand Foundress' birth.  
  
Talmatan had a similar importance. By her own memoirs and the traditions of the Order she had created, the mountain of Talmatan was where Reshan had trained Swenya in the art of _swevyra_ \- of life force energy connected to the universe, wielded by one attuned to it - and guided her to become the great heroine to her people she would one day be. By those same traditions, Reshan and Swenya had descended into the cave after being guided to it by their connection to the universe, and they had experienced visions there.  
  
It was easy for Lucy to realize why even before she entered the Temple, wearing a simple brown robe and white vest and leggings. She could feel the energy inside the cavern. It was energy steeped in light and dark, a powerful focal point within the Flow of Life.  
  
The attendees had greeted her respectfully. All could see the weapon dangling from her belt, the _swenkesh_ , or "lightsaber" by Lucy's own words. The entire Order had become aware of her learning how to build new ones, just as they had earlier watched her repair Swenya's Blade - revealed to be the same kind of weapon - and defeat the mad _Mastrash_ Goras with it. That she was still deigning to take the Field Trials to prove her worthiness to be a _swevyra'se_ \- a Knight of Life as the Gersallians considered it - was another mark in her favor.  
  
Once she was fully admitted, Lucy was left alone in an interior grotto. A mat was laid out for her to kneel on and meditate. She did the kneeling part, but meditation was not something she did right away. She considered instead what she was doing here, why she had agreed to take these Trials, this particular act being the last of them. She'd gone to the extent of asking Meridina what would happen.  
  
" _I cannot tell you what it is you will experience_ ," Meridina had warned Lucy. " _All face their own challenges._ "  
  
Lucy felt the power resonate around her. For a minute, then another, nothing further seemed to occur. The silence of the cavern around her was absolute.  
  
The faint sound startled her for just that reason. Lucy felt out for what was there just to feel there was nothing apparent.  
  
But the faint sound continued. It continued until it was clearly footsteps.  
  
Lucy looked up at an old, wiry woman. A crown of wispy white hair surrounded a balding head. Her eyes were dark in color, her face drawn and gaunt. Dark and gray robes covered the body. "Come with me," she instructed.  
  
Slowly Lucy rose from the mat. "Who are you?"  
  
"An ally," the woman said. "Come."  
  
They walked deeper into the cave. It actually seemed off, actually. Could the cave really be this deep? Around her the surroundings grew so dark she could barely see. She felt out for any signs of danger and found none.  
  
That made the fall all the more perplexing.  
  
One step the floor was there. On the next it wasn't. Lucy cried out in surprise and reached out to try and find purchase. But there didn't seem to be any surface around to grab.  
  
And then, like that, she was on solid ground again. Her surroundings were just as dark as before. But this time the darkness felt unnatural, as if it had gathered for the purpose of obscuring her surroundings.  
  
"There you are," said the old woman. "Come."  
  
Lucy looked through the haze. Wherever this was, or at least whatever it was, she could see glinting patterns ahead of her. The old woman walked toward the haze and Lucy followed. She still couldn't make out who this was supposed to be. "Where are you taking me?" she asked. Around her more light glittered through the haze.  
  
There was no audible reply from the woman. They continued on toward the heart of the chamber.  
  
"What is this place?" Lucy asked. "The Gersallians didn't say anything about it."  
  
"Can't you feel it?" the woman asked. "This place is one of power. At the heart of this machine, the power to save us all can be found."  
  
Lucy's senses felt something from the machine. Power. But instead of the teeming energy of the Flow of Life, it felt… different. Almost wrong to her senses.  
  
"Why do you hesitate? The stakes do not allow for it," the woman insisted. A frown crossed her face. "The Darkness are coming for us all. This is the power that can fight them."  
  
The vision swept over Lucy. Dark, nameless things that seemed to be made of nothing but destructive hatred. She saw planets crumble, stars die out.  
  
And then she saw herself. For a moment she looked deceptively Human, or rather as she always did. Not short but not tall, long dark hair with curls, blue eyes, a face that was just a tad too round to be considered oval-shaped. No muscle definition, just a solid body of about five feet ten inches height, with a light brown complexion hinting at her Mexican-born mother's _mestizo_ background.  
  
But there was something in the eyes, something in the way she looked, that wasn't right. It didn't fit who Lucy was. Instead there was a different form of power, something terrible and without the Light of the Flow of Life. Lucy watched this other her wield this enormous power against those dark things, against other things, with more planets dying, more stars going out. Dying, it seemed, at her own hand.  
  
"Follow me, I will show you to the heart of this machine." The old woman beckoned. "None will stop you. They would not dare. Only you can claim this power and change the fate of the Multiverse with it."  
  
"I…" Lucy looked on through the haze. Felt that terrible power. Something beyond anything she'd seen or felt before. But it felt like death, like something inhuman, and she didn't want that.  
  
"It is not death, girl. You will be beyond death. Beyond anything and everything, free to impose your will as you see fit."  
  
"But it's… wrong," Lucy insisted. "The Flow of Life isn't moving in here. Whatever this is… it's not part of that."  
  
"It is _superior_ to it. It will free you from the Flow of Life."  
  
"But I don't want that!" Lucy shouted. She reached out for the Flow, for what flickering bits of it she felt, and tried to gather it. "I'm not using this thing. It's wrong."  
  
"It is our future!" the woman shrieked. "Without it, we will lose everything. You will lose everything!" A twisted, angry look came over the old woman. "Can you accept that, Lucy Lucero? Losing the ones you love? Just as you lost your mother?"  
  
That old pain surged inside of Lucy with surprising fierceness. She could remember her mother's last words on the hospital bed, pleading with Lucy to go and do great things. She could remember her own hot tears running down her cheeks as her mother slipped away. That open, raw void from the piece of her heart that was torn away.  
  
The old woman smiled with bitter vindication. "And now imagine losing the others. The ones you call your family."  
  
That was a prospect Lucy had already experienced. She thought of the others dying as well. Tearing new, terrible gaps into her heart, more painful than anything Patrick Duffy might have tried.  
  
"You can save them. With this, you will never know loss again. Take the power. Accept it."  
  
The thought went through Lucy's head. This wasn't real. She'd come to meditate, to take a trial, and this must be it. It had to be, didn't it? The alternative was that some old woman was hiding a mysterious device beneath the mountain, and somehow that seemed more ludicrous than the things she had seen since that day when Julia had rescued her from the Duffy house.  
  
But this felt so real. More real than a dream. She was here. And this thing was. She could imagine the power it held. With it… she'd never lose another loved one. She wouldn't lose Julia or Leo or Rob or Cat or Jarod…  
  
...she wouldn't lose Meridina.  
  
Somehow, that thought was the most terrible one. At the same time, the thought also led her to consider how Meridina would react to this. To the idea of turning away from the Flow of Life and embracing… whatever this was. She could imagine Meridina's horror at the idea. And her disappointment at Lucy ultimately rejecting the things she'd spent so much time teaching her.  
  
"I sense how much you care for your mentor in these arts," said the woman. "But her way is to accept death. It can only bring pain. Use the machine, Lucy Lucero, and you and those you love need never die."  
  
The words alone did not move Lucy. But she could sense images. Images of her friends, those she considered family, dying. Robert, Julia, Tom and Scotty, Jarod, Nick, Leo… their lifeless faces cycled in a montage.  
  
Meridina's hurt the worst. The idea that she could lose her, this wonderful and brave woman who had done so much for her, introduced Lucy to this potential that had always been inside her… that hurt and frightened Lucy.  
  
The idea that she could do something that would ensure she never lost Meridina, she never lost anyone… that was a possibility Lucy found she couldn't just give up on. After all, hadn't she lost enough? Her mother had gone. She'd tried to do the right thing and ended up the plaything of a sadistic monster for her efforts. Only a miracle had saved her from that, and that had led to a life of desperate fights and close calls. How close had they come against the Daleks? How close to death had she been? And Meridina? The others?  
  
Lucy approached the opening. "Yes," said the old woman. "This is your destiny. Fulfill it, raise up yourself and those you care for, and strike down the darkness that threatens us all." The hazy opening itself seemed to beckon her, for all that it felt… wrong.  
  
_It is wrong_ , thought Lucy. _Whatever this is… it's wrong. This power isn't of the Flow of Life. It's different. It's dangerous.  
  
I… I can't…_  
  
Tears trickled down her cheeks. Again the thought of what she'd lost, what she could lose, came to her. If this was a way to prevent that, shouldn't she take it?  
  
_But at what cost?_ To be cut off from the Flow of Life? What would that do to her? What would it do to the others? Would they accept this as well? Would Meridina? What if they didn't, what if this was as wrong as she felt?  
  
_But I don't want to lose them!_ The protest filled her mind, and she felt it ring both ways. She was afraid of losing them to death. But if they rejected her for this, if it made her something terrible… she would lose them anyway.  
  
"Why do you hesitate?" demanded the old woman.  
  
Lucy didn't hear her. Indeed, as far as she was concerned, this strange, hazy place was gone. She was in a hospital room. Her mother was on the bed, weak, dying. She had Lucy's hand clasped in hers. "My little one. Please, you must move on. You have a life."  
  
To that, Lucy shook her head. Her voice choked out, "But I love you, Mama. I don't want to be without you."  
  
"I'm always with you, my precious little one. No matter what." Hands coarsened by hard labor and time were nevertheless gentle against Lucy's cheek.  
  
And then the hand fell, and it never moved again.  
  
_It didn't happen that way_ was Lucy's first thought to this. Her mother could barely speak at the end. Her last act before falling asleep for the final time had been to smile at her while her eyes, normally filled with pain, suddenly showed nothing but love. As if she had known she wouldn't wake up.  
  
"Go!" urged the old woman.  
  
But Lucy couldn't. That false memory of her mother's deathbed still had a power over her, as if she knew those were the words Isabela Lucero would have used had she been able to speak. And those words were true. Lucy had always kept her mother with her. Not to dwell over her loss but to remember her life, and what they had shared. And to think of how she would feel about Lucy now, about all that she had accomplished.  
  
This power… this wasn't for her. This wasn't what Lucy was. It was something terrible and she knew it would change her if she touched it. It would do something to her and make her different, make her something her mother may not have recognized… something her friends never would. Something Meridina would feel only pain over.  
  
"I'm not doing it," Lucy said. She turned to face her host. "Whatever this is… I don't want it. It's not for me. It's not what I am."  
  
She could feel the anger and frustration from the old woman. And with it came another sensation, something Lucy was angry with herself for missing before. The old woman did have power, a lot of it… and it was cold and dark. Her eyes blazed in fury and turned yellow and then red. "If you will not serve my purpose willingly, you leave me no choice!" barked the old woman, as cold dark energy swirled around her. Stronger, nastier, than it had when Lucy had felt it inside _Mastrash_ Goras.  
  
Lucy reached for her belt. But her lightsaber wasn't present. Nor might it have been much use, as the attack didn't come physically but mentally. The old woman's rage permeated her sense of self as it slammed into Lucy's mind. _I will make you my own_. _I will have that power!_  
  
To that Lucy gathered her own. She grimaced and dropped to a knee before her standing opponent. But she kept her head up and her face defiant. Given the power she was facing, Lucy reached out beyond her own connection and felt the warmth of the Flow of LIfe. It was strong now. Vibrant. And she could channel it in this place.  
  
And she did so. Everything that was Lucy Lucero - her fears and her joys and her desires and her devotions - struck back at the invader of her mind. "No," rasped the old woman. "You will give in! I felt it! You are ready to accept what I offer!"  
  
"No," Lucy insisted. "I was tempted. But you're asking me to be something I can't be."  
  
"But the power you would wield…"  
  
"I don't want power."  
  
"Lies!" snarled the woman, who dropped to a knee. All of her efforts were being expended at Lucy, and none of it was working for her. "You let yourself be taught in these ways. You opened yourself to power willingly, you wanted it!"  
  
"I accepted what I already had in order to protect others," Lucy corrected. "But I never _wanted_ this." A small, bemused grin crossed Lucy's face. "To be honest, I sometimes think _swevyra_ is a pain in the ass. And I'm pretty sure that whatever this is… I don't want."  
  
The old woman went down to all fours. "You must take it!"  
  
"No, I don't." Lucy knelt down in front of her. "Now… get the _hell_ out of my mind!"  
  
With a final surge of effort, Lucy pushed the old woman out.  
  
Everything around her vanished. The old woman, the hazy glittering surroundings, the chamber. She was all alone in near-darkness.  
  
"You are an interesting one," said another voice. A woman's voice, with the quiet lilt that Meridina often had when speaking English.  
  
Lucy turned to face the newcomer. She was a woman, young but approaching middle-age, wearing a blue robe over a brown shirt and leggings. A very familiar weapon dangled from her belt, just as familiar as the open sandals on her feet. Her complexion was fair, her hair dark brown, and blue eyes met Lucy's own. Lucy felt her mouth hang open.  
  
She'd seen this woman before.  
  
"Swenya."  
  
"So to speak," said the figure.  
  
Lucy stared in surprise. Meridina hadn't mentioned this might happen.  
  
"Oh, I do not appear very often," said the old heroine of the Gersallians. "Honestly, you could possibly consider me nothing more than a personification of your connection to the Flow of Life."  
  
" _Swevyra_ makes a lot of things possible," Lucy pointed out.  
  
To that Swenya grinned. "You have no idea how true that is," she said. "What do you think is happening? Right now?"  
  
Ever since the old woman and the hazy machine chamber had disappeared, Lucy had gradually recalled what was going on. "This is a test," Lucy said. "I wasn't told what was being tested…"  
  
"I would hope not. The expectation would ruin everything." Swenya stepped toward her.  
  
"I could never have expected _that_ ," Lucy said. "I've never been to a place like that. And I've never seen the woman."  
  
"Of course not. The test is not fixed, it can be anything from your imagination to experiencing a potential future. What is important is what you carry away from it."  
  
That prompted a nod. "And how did I do?"  
  
"How do you think you did?"  
  
"Well, I said no. Not as quickly as I would have wished I did…"  
  
To that Swenya grinned and chuckled. "Yes. But you did it more quickly than I did. I actually entered the inner chamber before I stopped."  
  
Lucy blinked at that admission. "Then you know what it was? What that place is for?"  
  
"It was… a relic," said Swenya. "One of only a few remaining, held in waiting by one of the last of its creators. Or creations, one might say. Either way, you were right to step away."  
  
"I still don't understand what it does."  
  
"It is something you may learn with time." Swenya's expression showed how grave she thought that possibility to be. Said expression softened after a moment. "Allow the future to tend to itself, Lucy Lucero. We do not live in the future, after all, but in the present moment, and understanding that distinction is always necessary for those like us."  
  
Lucy nodded. "The profound wisdom is nice, but I'm still wondering if you're really Swenya or just a figment of my imagination."  
  
The answer to that was a cryptic smile. "That you will need to figure out for yourself, I think."  
  
Lucy's eyes opened. She found she was still seated on the mat in the cave. Gentle candlelight flickered over the beige-tinted walls of the cavern. All she could hear was the beating of her own heart, accompanied by her breathing. "Was that it?" she murmured to herself. "Was that my trial?" She remained where she was for the moment. Minutes passed as she considered what she'd seen, or rather what she'd dreamed, and if that was what she was supposed to see all along.  
  
When nothing else happened, she finally stood up and left.  
  
  
  
  
The sun was low in the sky and the waning light of twilight played over the field of wheat visible outside the window of Robert's home. The old family home where his grandparents still resided was visible as well, nearly to the road. The edge of the barn was covered in shadow, facing away from the setting sun.  
  
Looking at the vista gave Robert a sense of profound joy. Anything, everything, he might have wanted in life, and it was here. Everything was just right. So right that it actually felt unreal.  
  
Something inside him seemed to resonate with that thought. As if this wasn't real but some great fantasy he was living in. How else could he explain it? Everything going right?  
  
But why can't it be going right? Why did this feel wrong sometimes?  
  
"How're you doing, Rob?"  
  
Robert turned his head and faced his grandfather. Allen Dale was in casual T-shirt and shorts. His weathered face was creased with age and worry, as it had been growing up. Now Allen was well through his eighties, although he didn't seem too different than he'd been while Robert was growing up.  
  
That thought went away as Robert answered, "I'm alright. Whatever it was, it's not happening now."  
  
"Right." Allen gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I'm just a worried old man, I suppose. You can be hard on yourself, Rob. Always trying to do the right things and be the good guy. Sometimes you have to remember to take care of yourself."  
  
"Leo said something like that."  
  
"Good doctors always do." Allen's eyes remained fixed to his. "Are you sure you've got nothing troubling you, Rob? It looks to me like you do."  
  
"I'm just…" Robert drew in a sigh. "Sometimes, lately, it feels like things are going too well. I have everything I might have wanted in life. And it feels like something's just… I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, I guess. Maybe today was it. Maybe I've got something wrong with me, and that's to balance all of this out."  
  
"Well, I can see that. But you can't go through life wondering about things like that. You'll lose your mind." Allen tilted his head towards the dining room. "Now, your Grandma has a dinner ready and will be mighty angry if you come to the table looking morose."  
  
A smile came to Robert's face. "Yeah. And I wouldn't want to get Grandma angry." He nodded and joined his grandfather in stepping away from the window.  
  
  
  
  
Tom Barnes walked into Main Engineering on the _Aurora_ through one of the aft entrances. The lanky, red-haired engineer's head swiveled from side to side, taking in the banks of naqia reactors that were inactive but ready to be brought to life to power the _Aurora_. He walked around the corner to the alcove where the master systems display showed a two and a half meter long likeness of the ship. Below the display, a table with multiple consoles allowed the Chief Engineer, assistants, and watch officers to check the status of systems across the ship and relay damage control teams and repair crews to needed points as well as interact with whoever was manning the Bridge Engineering Station. It, like the display, was new, both having replaced older counterparts from before the partial rebuild of Main Engineering over the past ten weeks.  
  
Ten weeks. And yet it sometimes felt more like ten days, or even ten hours, since the Cybermen and Daleks had made their attempts to take the ship and killed hundreds of crew in the process. Nearly half of the engineering crew was made up of new faces, and there were now missing faces that Barnes knew he would never see again.  
  
He stepped up to the control board and made a few perfunctory checks. The repairs were mostly complete. Rebuilt systems had been upgraded in some cases, and most of the ship's weaponry had been overhauled. The phaser weapons that Captain Farmer and Scotty had installed had been removed, replaced with new plasma beam emitters found in recovered Darglan technological data, weapons based off Asgard technology according to Robert.  
  
That thought haunted Barnes. He had always been closer to Zack, true, and there were times he thought Robert took things too far, but he also knew Robert was always looking out for them. Even when Barnes was being an idiot. Now he might be gone. Losses to the engineering crew had been bad enough, but this was a wound that went even deeper. The idea that Rob might never wake up…  
  
"Aye, there ye are." Scotty stepped into the alcove. While Barnes was wearing the standard engineering uniform for the Stellar Navy, with the black main color and beige branch color, Scotty always preferred his white long-sleeve jacket under a black engineer's vest. "What did ye find?"  
  
"No sign of any lingering hull breaches in the sector. I detailed Salehi and Iktana to check the local sensor clusters. We might have a bad one in the rebuild."  
  
To that the older man sighed and shook his head. "I told th' installers they dinnae have t' rush it."  
  
"Yeah, well, the dock teams are more worried about how fast they finish things, it makes them look like badasses or something." Barnes checked over something minor before asking, "So did Nesay go?"  
  
"Aye. She transferred t' th' _Pathfinder_. She'll make Chief by th' end o' th' year, I imagine."  
  
"Another face gone then." Tom tapped a couple of keys. "Hey, Scotty?"  
  
"Hrm?"  
  
"Do you ever get used to it?" Barnes asked. "Having the people you work with leave?"  
  
"Ye do. But that dinnae mean anythin' when it comes t' feelin' upset about it." A thoughtful look crossed Scott's face. "Ye're always goin' t' miss th' men an' women ye serve with. An' ye get auld enough an' th' list of them gets longer than ye'd ever expect. It makes ye miss yer youthful days even more, I've found."  
  
Barnes nodded in reply. It was clear the words were coming from bitter experience given Scotty's age. "It's a Goddamned cycle, I guess," Barnes said. "People are gone, new ones show up, you get used to them and make friends, then the whole damned process repeats."  
  
"That sounds about right," Scotty confirmed. "Just a part o' life, lad. Ye cannae dae anythin' about it. Ye just live with it like anythin' else. An' since ye brought th' matter up, let's take a look at th' shift rosters. I'd like t' have everyone ready when we're launchin'."  
  
Barnes nodded. He moved one console down and used it to bring up the current active roster. "Alright, let's get this done," he murmured as names and open shift positions popped up.  
  
Scotty's words refused to leave his mind, however. The idea that his friends might be gone one day gave Barnes a sense of possible loneliness. What would life be like without Zack or the others?  
  
It was a question he decided he didn't want to answer.  
  
  
  
Meridina walked through the halls of the Order of Swenya's Great Temple with enthusiasm in her gait. It was out of place here, and certainly not what she would have done just months before. It wouldn't have been right for her, not as a _swevyra'se_ of the Order.  
  
But she wasn't one anymore. She was merely Meridina of the Lumantala now, or rather Lieutenant Commander Meridina of the Alliance Stellar Navy, the chief of security for the _Starship Aurora_. The only reason she was here, in this hall, was the invitation of _Mastrash_ Ledosh, her teacher and mentor, otherwise the red-robed Temple Knights would have never granted her entrance to the building.  
  
It was a strange feeling, in fact, to be walking these halls, dressed in a simple, sleeveless violet vest that showed the smooth skin of her bare arms. The sea-green skirt ended just at the knees, revealing the curved shape of her lower legs. Given the warmth of the season outside it was not out of place, but an occasional sensation of being underdressed did strike her whenever she noticed a member of the Order pass wearing the full proper robes.  
  
She arrived at Ledosh's office to find him with Gina Inviere. Gina looked Human (and thus Gersallian), but the blond woman was partly artificial in truth, a human-form Cylon once sent to infiltrate the Colonies of Kobol. Several terrible trials and betrayals later and she was here, Ledosh's current apprentice, looking to overcome the darkness in her past. She was in blue robes with a cream white-colored tunic and leggings, blond hair pulled into a ponytail.  
  
Ledosh had the same color of tunic and leggings while his robe was purple with a blue trim line, marking him a _Mastrash_ and member of the Order Council. He looked up and revealed a worn face, slightly rounded, with graying hair and a similarly-graying goatee. A look of weariness was present in his light brown eyes. It didn't go away entirely when Meridina returned the look. She had the feeling there was a lot on Ledosh's mind. "The Temple of Perception's rector informed me that Lucy emerged from the Inner Sanctum. He believes she has completed her vision successfully."  
  
"Then she has passed the Trial of Perception," Ledosh noted. "Lucy Lucero is, by custom, a _swevyra'se_." He smiled slightly. "Her success does credit to her teacher."  
  
To that Meridina smiled and shook her head. "It was her accomplishment. I cannot take credit."  
  
"Your humility remains one of your strong points," Ledosh noted. He nodded to Gina. "You may go, Gina. I will call for you if you are needed."  
  
"Of course." Gina nodded back and then gave another respectful head bow to Meridina before departing.  
  
As she left, Meridina noted that the weapon on her belt was not a _lakesh_ , but a gray and gold handle of what could only be a _swenkesh_. One of Lucy's "lightsabers". "Gina completed hers?" Meridina asked.  
  
"Yes. It took her some time, just as it took me." Ledosh folded his hands together on his fine wooden desk. "Now that she has completed the Trials, your decision to train her has been completely vindicated. Lucy's reputation with the Order can never be higher."  
  
"It merely confirmed what many already sensed about her," Meridina pointed out. "And she has spent most of her time between Trials showing others how to assemble their own _swenkesham_."  
  
Ledosh nodded. "Yes. The Council is already preparing new training directives to take her weapons into account. But it will be some time before the weapon is universal, I believe. A number of our people have not yet mastered the practice. Others have no desire to learn it. _Mastrash_ Owan, for instance, has insisted he will never give up his _lakesh_."  
  
"He is, as always, a traditionalist," Meridina remarked. "And I am sure Lucy will provide the requested lessons."  
  
"Yes."  
  
Again Meridina had the sense that Ledosh was concerned with something. He seemed weary, distracted, and that was not his usual demeanor with her. "Is anything wrong, _Mastrash_?"  
  
"Nothing tangible," he answered. It indicated where his concern was coming from. He sensed something amiss. "But I have felt a vague threat forming over the last few months. And there are implications for us all."  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked.  
  
"There is a growing malaise in certain sections of the Order," Ledosh said. "I have sensed it, as have others."  
  
"It may simply be from _Mastrash_ Goras' fall," Meridina proposed. "Many respected him. To be reminded of the ease by which we might fall was not pleasant."  
  
"That may be a contribution, yes." Ledosh nodded. "And it explains the reluctance to do anything more than leave Goras in confinement."  
  
"The government has not asked for him to be tried for the Dissenter attacks?" Meridina asked, surprised at her mentor's admission.  
  
"They have remarked upon it, but the Dissenters are still a concern. They would rather we deal with Goras as normal. But there are those on the Council who argue for patience. That given time, he may rediscover his inner light."  
  
That was something Meridina could understand. Returning Goras to the Light would be a victory, and might calm any lingering Dissenter problems. But there was something in Ledosh's manner that made Meridina worried about the situation. "Is there anything else you would like to tell me, _Mastrash_?" she asked.  
  
"For the moment, no," he said. "I am continuing some personal inquiries into various subjects. If those inquiries provide me with specific answers, I will inform you." He smiled at her and nodded. "Go on, Meridina. Meet Lucy when her shuttle lands and spend time with your family. I know you are due to return to the _Aurora_ shortly. You needn't spend your entire time home attending to our business."  
  
"Of course, _Mastrash_ ," Meridina said. He was right, she didn't need to spend all of her time in the Temple. She was no longer a member of the Order, after all, and lingering would only be a reminder to all about her choice in leaving. " _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_."  
  
" _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ ," he answered.  
  
After Meridina left, Gina entered, giving Ledosh a concerned look "You did not tell her everything, " she said.  
  
"All I could speak of are suppositions and suspicions," Ledosh answered. "I will speak with her when the time is right." He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the volume he had been holding onto for months now The fine golden calligraphy on the dark, leather bound book read _The Life of Reshan_.  
  
"You've been reading that book for months," said Gina.  
  
"Yes. The old language within is harder to decipher than I had expected," he answered.  
  
" _Mastrash_ Inrama is said to know much about…"  
  
"No," Ledosh said, his voice firm though not loud. "For now, I will continue my investigations alone."  
  
That caused a frown to form on Gina's face. "I wish you would share more of your concerns, _Mastrash_ ," she said. "With me or with Meridina."  
  
"In time, I will," he promised. "But only when I have something tangible to share."  
  
  
  
  
Jarod parked the aircar in the rental service's return lot. Scanners determined the return and logged it, securing the vehicle from further use while Jarod and Angel retrieved their things. The spaceport was small enough that it was a short walk to the private hangar where Jarod had parked the shuttle. "How did you afford this?" Angel asked as they neared the hanger Jarod had rented.  
  
"Private hangers aren't that expensive on a world like this," Jarod answered. "And Sydney offered to help pay for anything I needed."  
  
"How is it?" Angel asked. "Having both Sydney and your Dad back? He was your second dad, I mean."  
  
"Honestly?" Jarod shook his head. "Sydney's the only real father I've had in my life. I don't hold it against Charles. It isn't fair to him that I got stolen from him as a child. But he and I aren't as close."  
  
"I don't know if you could be. I mean, Sydney effectively raised you, even if he was working for those bastards in the Centre."  
  
Jarod tapped in his entry key at the side door. It confirmed his entry and slid open. They stepped in to find the hanger darkened. "We've always had a complex relationship," Jarod admitted. "But in the end, Sydney…"  
  
Angel noticed the stop. "What?"  
  
Jarod's face went blank. "The lights should be coming on," he said. "Why aren't they?"  
  
An instinctive tension came over Angel. She let her bag drop to the floor and braced herself.  
  
The attack came a second later.


	3. Chapter 3

The figure that zipped out of the deep shadows of the hanger moved with great speed. He or she - they couldn't tell given the suit the figure was in and how fast it was going - slammed into Jarod first and sent him flying. Angel threw a punch that caught the figure in the jaw. It stumbled backward for one step before catching itself. Angel's leg came up in a snap kick aimed at the solar plexus. The attacker's hand moved in a blur and caught her by the ankle. With one powerful pull the attacker sent Angel flying. She cried out in surprise and slammed into Jarod as he started to get up. Both fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs.  
  
Angel looked toward their attacker. Pale skin showed in the shadowed face. Whomever it was had a pair of sunglasses, or something like them, on their face. A devilish grin came to the attacker's face. "I saw you fight," the figure said, voice raspy and nearly inhuman. "I wanted to see how well you could do for myself." A gloved hand came up and wiped a streak of blood from the side of the mouth. The attacker gave the blood a thoughtful lick. "You actually landed a punch and drew blood. Very good."  
  
"What are you?" Angel asked. Beside her Jarod was starting to stand.  
  
"Death."  
  
The figure surged ahead again, moving with a speed that Angel hadn't seen since that desperate fight with _Mastrash_ Goras. Despite all efforts, Angel couldn't land a single hit. Every punch or kick was blocked.  
  
The figure stuck, a punch that sent Angel flying back into the wall. Blood trickled down the left side of Angel's mouth. The attacker turned and grabbed Jarod's right fist as it came in for a blow. He cried out in pain. The figure squeezed and the cry became louder until there was an audible crack. Jarod collapsed, cradling the twisted fingers of his broken right hand. The attacker picked him up by the collar and threw him into Angel. She tried to catch him but the speed he was moving at was simply too much. The impact smashed her between Jarod and the wall. The sharp stab of pain in her torso made it clear she'd broken a rib.  
  
"That was fun." Again the inhuman rasp of the voice. "But now… it is time for you to die." The figure hissed and lunged toward them.  
  
The door to the hanger slid open suddenly. Another figure rushed in and slammed into the attacker. Growls and grunts of effort turned into a cry of pain and then an even louder cry. By the time Angel and Jarod were getting back to their feet, they heard a particular snapping sound. Their attacker hit the floor with a broken neck.  
  
Their rescuer, not finished apparently, promptly drove a knife into the attacker's heart.  
  
"Was that really necessary?" Angel asked.  
  
Despite the poor light, there were a few things that could be made out about their rescuer. She looked female, with a black biker jacket over a black halter top with dark blue slacks. Her skin was pale as well. And like their attacker, she wore what looked like sunglasses. "Just making sure," said the woman, in a plain American accent from their own era. She yanked the knife out of the attacker's body, which she picked up. "You're not hurt?" For a moment she said nothing further, just staring at them sharply, before she added, "Broken rib and broken hand. You'll both live." She turned away as if the conversation were already over.  
  
Angel wasn't satisfied with that, however. "What the hell is going on?"  
  
"I just saved your lives." The woman bent down and picked up the dead body. "That's all that matters. So you should shut up and get outta here."  
  
But Angel was in no mood to be dismissed. "And what the hell is that thing? Some sort of cyborg?"  
  
Their rescuer was clearly annoyed with the question. "They're called Pretenders. They're nasty, murderous, and completely loathsome pieces of crap. You're just lucky I was already hunting this one."  
  
The reference to their attacker as a "Pretender" clearly drew Jarod's attention. "I've never moved that fast," he winced while trying to support his broken hand.  
  
The woman smirked at him. "There is more than one kind of 'Pretender' in the Multiverse, Commander Jarod."  
  
"So you know who we are?" Angel asked.  
  
"Yeah. You'd be surprised how many people keep an eye out for the crew of the _Aurora_. You're getting a reputation for doing crazy shit and getting away with it." She hefted the dead attacker onto her shoulders. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a bounty to collect."  
  
"So who's…" Jarod didn't bother finishing his question. Their rescuer ran out the door, which shut behind her.  
  
"Okay, we've seen some crazy stuff, but that takes the damn cake," grumbled Angel. "I don't suppose we could investigate?"  
  
"I need to treat my hand and your rib," Jarod answered. "I've got a medkit in the shuttle."  
  
"That won't heal a broken bone."  
  
"No, but it'll make us functional enough to fly back to New Liberty, where Sydney and the doctors can patch us up," Jarod pointed out. "Let's go before the authorities start to wonder about what's going on."  
  
Angel frowned. She didn't like what had just happened. A random attack that just happened to target them? She didn't believe in coincidences like that. But the pain in her chest reaffirmed Jarod's wisdom. With a wince and a little gasp of pain, Angel retrieved her bag from the floor of the hangar and followed Jarod to the shuttle.  
  
  
  
  
In a nearby hangar, within a dampening field, a pure blue energy beam struck the corpse of the assassin and vaporized said corpse immediately. The woman in the dark jacket climbed into her own starship and went to her comm system. She activated her highest encryption channel and connected to the encrypted comm server on the other end. Moments later, her current employer appeared on the screen. "Your intel was right," she said. "They made a play against one of the _Aurora_ crew. Two, in fact. Do you want me to check on the others?"  
  
" _No. I have other sources for them. And Angela Delgado was the one in the most danger given her traveling plans_." Her employer was turned partly away from the screen. " _As always your work is superb, Ms. Blue. I've just added a generous bonus to your payment._ "  
  
"Thanks, Mister Hank, I guess," Blue answered, with a hint of petulance. "Anything else?"  
  
" _Nothing for the moment_ ," replied Sidney Hank. The Solarian businessman, one of the Multiverse's wealthiest individuals, gestured lightly with a hand. He ignored the lack of politeness, having known the woman for a very long time and knowing she rarely did anything for anyone; even the contract had been a favor. " _I've got your comm line if I have another job for you._ "  
  
"Black’s too busy for this crap?” she replied rhetorically.  
  
“ _As you well remember, my rival has ten of your kind on permanent retainer. I have one._ ” Sidney frowned, and then shrugged. “ _If you don’t want the money, I could always ask Red._ ”  
  
The woman calling herself ‘Blue’ snorted. “Yeah, fat chance of that. If it’s about the _Aurora_ people, go ahead and contact me again. I get the idea they’re important.”  
  
“ _Extremely so, although I'd rather they not find that out just yet._ " Hank's expression turned to wry amusement. " _They're trouble enough already. Hank out._ ”  
  
  
  
  
Space tore open in orbit over the planet New Caprica. The swirling green vortex of an interuniversal jump point formed within seconds. The ship that emerged was a blocky vessel with twin warp drive nacelles built into its upper hull area. It curved toward orbit. Seconds later its transporter systems engaged, after which it moved away.  
  
When Zachary Carrey materialized on the surface of the colony world, he was wearing casual clothes; an ash-gray full-sleeved shirt and navy blue pants with casual sneakers over white socks. A duffel bag of belongings was slung over his shoulder. The only people who had beamed down with him were a dark-skinned woman in the Colonial Navy uniform and a second, tanned woman in a hooded jacket and green slacks.  
  
As it turned out, the welcoming committee was there just for him. A banner had been erected in the transporter receiving terminal that read "WELCOME BACK COACH CARREY!", and a chorus of young voices cheered. Zack grinned at the children, ranging in age from five to seventeen, wearing their baseball uniforms and applauding with their parents watching with smiles.  
  
There were no hard feelings when he didn't react immediately. Clara Davis was quick to step up and plant a kiss on Zack's lips that quickly became a deep one, lasting several seconds and prompting giggles from the smallest children. "Welcome back," she said. Her long dark hair flowed past her shoulders, some of the locks spilling over the front of her light blue short-sleeved blouse. Blue eyes met his brown eyes, affection intensified by distance reflecting between them. "I've been waiting for that."  
  
"So have I." Zack ran a hand over her cheek. Clara's happy smile warmed his heart. To those observing, it was the quintessential look of a war hero returning home to his sweetheart.  
  
They shared the embrace for several moments, after which they kissed again, a shorter and quicker meeting of the lips. Clara turned toward the children first. "So, how was the last season?" he asked them.  
  
"It was great," one of the older children said. He gestured to another child. "Mark Atreiad threw a no-hitter!"  
  
"I knew that kid was going to be good," Zack crowed. "I guess he's busy?"  
  
"He's with his Uncle Will," another kid said. "He's on the _Pegasus_."  
  
"Well, good for them." Zack stepped forward and began shaking the hands of the various players. "I'm sorry I missed your games."  
  
"It's alright," Clara said.  
  
"Yeah." The boy who had brought up Mark Atreiad spoke up again. "We're going to throw you a welcome home tournament!"  
  
Zack answered that with a laugh and a grin. "Well, that's great. I've never had a tournament in my honor before. I can't wait to see what your teams will do!"  
  
After more handshakes and well-wishes, the children were led away by their parents. In that part of the terminal, it was just Zack and Clara. They pulled each other close and kissed again. "So you consider this to be your home now?" Clara asked after the kiss.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"The kids are calling it a 'Welcome Home' tournament," Clara pointed out. "It implies that this is your home."  
  
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Zack answered. "What do you think?"  
  
Clara smiled softly. "Well, Doctor Zhu offered me a position at the New Caprica Hospital. And I'm going to take it."  
  
"And leaving the New Liberty Volunteer Corps?"  
  
Clara nodded once. "This has become a home for me. I get along with the people. And you haven't seen Artemis' Falls yet, have you?"  
  
"No, I have not," Zack confirmed.  
  
"Well, I think I know where we're going during your leave," Clara answered. A pleasant smile came to her lips. "You'll love it."  
  
"I'm sure I will." Zack took her hand and let Clara lead him out of the terminal. The thought rolled in his head. This place as home? He'd thought about it before, but was he ready to commit to it?  
  
Yes. Yes, that would work for him if it was what Clara wanted. It would work quite well…  
  
  
  
  
Another day came, and with it a trip into town. This time Robert went by himself given how early he had to leave to make it to the county commission meeting he was scheduled to attend. Such meetings could be terribly boring and he didn't want to subject his wife and son to this one. He didn't want to go either, but water codes were due for adjustment and he had to be involved in that on behalf of the family farms.  
  
The sun was nearing its zenith in the sky when he finally stepped out of the county building, content with the outcome. He checked his pocket for the grocery list that his mother and Grandma Anna had written out. Satisfied that it was still there, he looked back to his car.  
  
Someone was standing beside it. After a moment Robert recognized the figure as the tall Englishman he'd met the previous day. "Can I help you?" he asked as he approached.  
  
The English doctor looked over at him and grinned. "Ah, hello there. You're looking better today. How's your head?"  
  
"Better." Robert stepped up to the side of his car. "Thank you for calling 911 for me, by the way."  
  
"Oh, no bother there," said the Englishman. "You needed the help. And it's good to know you're feeling better. I figured we could talk."  
  
"About?"  
  
"Things that need talking about, of course."  
  
Robert responded by slipping by the man and going for his car door. "Listen, I've got shopping to do and then I've got to be back home, I don't have time for word games." He opened the car door and got in.  
  
The man leaned against the window until Robert lowered it. "Is that it? Or would you rather not think about it?"  
  
"Think about what?"  
  
"About how it doesn't seem right," said the Doctor. "Does it?"  
  
With his patience wearing down, Robert asked, "What doesn't seem right?"  
  
"This." The man spread his arms out. "All of it. This life. This world. It doesn't seem right, does it? It's all too convenient. It fits together too well."  
  
Something about those words struck at Robert. His protest died before it could reach his throat.  
  
"Take your grandparents, for instance. They're well into their eighties, but they act like they're a few decades younger."  
  
Robert frowned at him. "Just what the hell are you getting on about? How do you know my grandparents?"  
  
"And all of your friends just so happen to have the lives they've wanted? Or rather, the lives _you_ would want them to have," the man continued. "They're doing the things that you think would make them happy."  
  
"I don't have to listen to this. You stay away from us," Robert demanded. "Or I'll call the Sheriff's office."  
  
"You can't go on ignoring this," the Englishman insisted while Robert's hand gripped the car key. A single twist brought the engine to life. "This world isn't real and you know it. Deep down you…"  
  
With a flick of a switch Robert rolled up the window to his car and peeled out, ignoring the strange man saying things he didn't want to hear. He turned onto the main road and started on his way to the store.  
  
He made it a half a mile before the pain in his head returned. Realizing what was happening, he pulled off the road and sat there. A cry of pain came from his throat. His hands gripped at his forehead.  
  
And then the images started. That bizarre room with the consoles, the dark-haired man and the blond-haired one, and Julia in a uniform. Now he saw Angel and Cat too, wearing black uniforms with beige and light blue trim respectively, sitting at stations. It made no sense to him… yet the scene felt so _familiar_.  
  
Then more images. A woman with a roundish face, not exceptionally pretty but plain-looking, sat in front of him in a white vest and leggings, looking like she was some Eastern monk meditating. Then there was a man, in a finer version of the black uniform, with a well-trimmed beard of graying black that matched his head. And another man, bald and light-skinned with a fringe of gray hair on his head, with a different uniform of predominantly red with black.  
  
The images flipped through his mind faster and faster, images of people and cities and spaceships and space stations, bringing pain as they did, beguiling him with how real they felt, and he nearly passed out as it reached a crescendo.  
  
And then it stopped. He was in the driver's seat of his car. And he was parked at the grocery store he had intended to drive to, as if nothing had happened. As if his head had never started hurting again, as if he'd never pulled off the road…  
  
Fear drove his heart to beat faster. His breathing picked up. Robert wondered what was going on. Why was this happening? Just who was that damned English guy? Did he even exist? Was he a figment of Robert's imagination?  
  
_Am I going mad?_  
  
It took a minute for him to regain control. No. No, whatever this was, he wasn't mad. He was here. He had things to do for his family. His family, which was the most important thing in the world. That was all that mattered.  
  
It was all that mattered.  
  
He got out of the car and went into the store, eager to get home.  
  
  
  
  
New Caprica made Zack think of New Liberty. The comparison wasn't complete and the differences between the two were telling, but nevertheless they seemed to share common traits. Both formed as new homes for refugees driven from the homes they'd known and now both had also become homes for a number of other beings who had come for their own reasons, whether it be finding new homes of their own or wishing to help the New Capricans establish themselves. Walking the streets of the main settlement, Zack noticed people wearing Gersallian-style clothing and some Dorei were walking or riding with the Humans in the settlement.  
  
"The population's at 85,000, if you're wondering," Clara said. They continued on their way through Remembrance Plaza. The north side of said Plaza had the Government Buildings, where Baltar's Presidential Mansion and the Quorum Meeting Forum were now mostly complete. Businesses lined the other sides while the center was a monument depicting the Colonial seal in marble and granite, dedicated to the dead of the Colonies. "Baltar's been encouraging some immigration, although the Quorum's still placing limits on permanent residency and citizenship."  
  
"They don't want to get flooded and made a minority in their own settlement." Zack shrugged. "I can get that. Are you…?"  
  
"I've already applied for the residency," Clara said. "After we talked last year about settling here." Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle. "And you won't have any problems getting a residency. Admiral Adama made you and the _Koenig_ crew members of the Fleet so you get permanent residency just by asking for it. Between Adama and Baltar, I don't think anyone would say 'no' to you."  
  
"Then all we have to do is worry about a house."  
  
Clara smiled and nodded. They passed by a shop and stepped into a small diner. A young woman came up and guided them to a table halfway back. After ordering sodas, they were left alone to continue talking. "Is everything okay?" Clara asked. "I mean, with the war."  
  
Zack let out a small sigh before shrugging. "It's war. People are dying every day, every hour, and I think we're winning. Doesn't feel like it sometimes."  
  
"Have you lost anyone?"  
  
"Crewman Childers and Petty Officer Hrik," Zack said. "We took damage in an attack on a crippled Nazi dreadnought about a month ago. A direct hit from their main cannon. It was my fault."  
  
Clara took his hand within hers. "Was it?"  
  
"I wasn't careful enough," he replied. "So I lost two of my crew. They're not the first I've lost and they're probably not the last." Zack brought his other hand up and gripped one of Clara's, leaving both clasping one another's hand. "I love flying my ship. I always have. But… I never wanted to be a killer. And that's what I've become."  
  
"No." Clara shook her head. "You're… you're a soldier. It's different."  
  
"It's supposed to be. But sometimes I wonder." Zack shook his head. "I mean, we're fighting the good fight. I mean, Nazis. They don't get any worse than Nazis. But I just want it over."  
  
"And then?"  
  
"And then…" Zack shrugged. "I'm thinking of resigning. Of coming here and living with you. You deserve better than me being a universe away fighting a war or doing whatever else I have to."  
  
Clara smiled at him and pulled his hand toward her. She leaned in and planted a kiss on his knuckle. "You're so sweet."  
  
"Thanks to you."  
  
"No." She shook her head. "You were always sweet. Even in high school."  
  
"I wasn't. You know what I was like."  
  
"I know what you wanted everyone to think you were like. But if you weren't sweet, you wouldn't have spared me when things didn't work out."  
  
The waitress returned with their food. Their hands separated to make room on the table for it and took up the utensils to begin eating their meal.  
  
  
  
  
The hooded woman who had beamed down with Zack had walked across the Capital to a prefab house on the outskirts. By lowering her hood, she allowed curly dark hair to spill out onto her shoulders. She took the jacket off and walked across to the living area, where her blue eyes focused on the chair made ready for her.  
  
The lone occupant of the house looked up from a chair. "You made it," he said. "No complications?"  
  
"None of consequence for our plan," said the woman. "The others will handle things on their end."  
  
"Good. Our own time table has been kept."  
  
"Everything is in place then. Give me a time and I will act."  
  
The man smiled thinly. He gave the time.  
  
  
  
  
Something Lucy had gotten used to over the years was learning how cultures could have different practices, and yet could sometimes be exactly the same in other ways. The idea of dining together as a family was fairly universal among cultures. Throw in guests, however, and all sorts of small rules could be at play. Things as simple as who sits where, or what food is offered, or even if you should eat everything given. Lucy had seen a number of different approaches to the matter.  
  
Thankfully, the Gersallians didn't seem to have any complex rules in that way.  
  
Lucy sat between Meridina and her sister Gamaya on one side of the circular table. Leniraya, the other sister, was across from them sitting with her girlfriend Penrine. And her parents Karesl and Drentiya sat together toward one end. Only Meridina's brother, Qalkrsl, was not present, but his lack of presence hadn't kept Meridina's mother from loading the table with several dishes.  
  
The meal went by with little conversation, at least until everyone had finished a plate. "I understand that congratulations are in order," Drentiya said to Lucy. "You have finished the Field Trials."  
  
Lucy nodded. "And they were every bit as difficult as Meridina warned."  
  
"And you overcame those challenges just as I foresaw," Meridina answered, grinning at Lucy. "I can call you student no longer."  
  
"Have you given thought to how you will organize a Human Order?" asked Karesl.  
  
"Well, I'll have to find students first, I imagine," Lucy said. "I'm the only one to do so. At least, until Robert wakes up."  
  
The Lumantala family were already aware of what had happened there. "Will you be able to do so while serving on the _Aurora_?" Leniraya asked.  
  
"Well, maybe," said Lucy. "There have been other sensitives. Lieutenant Seldayiv, for instance…" Lucy turned her head toward Meridina. "Whatever happened with her anyway?"  
  
"She went to Doreia to train with one of the Orders," said Meridina. "I am uncertain if she will remain with the crew or not."  
  
"Right…"  
  
"You will be returning to your ship?" asked Karesl.  
  
"Yeah," Lucy answered. "I mean, maybe I'll eventually leave to focus on other things, but I can't walk out with the war still on. And the others need everyone who's left to remain. We lost a lot of good people."  
  
"So I have heard." Karesl nodded. He looked to Meridina next. "And the same for you?"  
  
"I have obligations to the Alliance to fulfill," answered Meridina, knowing her father's view on that… and that it was just one more reminder of her departure from the Order.  
  
Karesl, for his part, merely gave a short nod. "I understand. You depart tomorrow?"  
  
"Yes," she answered. "We are due on a transport in the morning. With the _Aurora_ soon to launch, I will be busy acquainting myself with the new security officers and personnel."  
  
A look of sympathy appeared on the faces of Meridina's parents. The lingering sense of loss Meridina had for her slain subordinates could not be hidden from them. "I understand," said Karesl.  
  
"Have any _farisa_ examined Robert?" Drentiya asked. "It is possible that one could reach his mind and help him awaken."  
  
"There are _farisa_ on duty with the Fleet Hospital who examined him," Meridina replied. "But they could not reach him."  
  
"I understand." Drentiya shook her head. "I hope he awakens with mind and soul intact."  
  
"So do we," Lucy said.  
  
Quietly, everyone returned their attention to their meal.  
  
  
  
  
The rest of the family knew something was wrong. Robert could tell that from the way they spoke at dinner. Try as he might, the day's experience had shaken him.  
  
It was his mother who finally spoke on it when the family gathered for the post-dinner movie. "You should have Leo run more tests," said Leigh Dale when she and his father settled into the love seat they commonly used. Allen and Anna took to their recliners and Susanna was on her favorite bean bag, leaving the couch for Robert, Julia, and their son. "This could be serious."  
  
"It may be nothing. I don't want to waste…" Robert stopped at seeing the looks of his grandparents and parents and sister. He didn't need to look to Julia to know she had the same look. "I'll call him in the morning."  
  
"You'll call him after we put Robby to bed," Julia corrected him.  
  
"Alright, then," Robert conceded.  
  
"Why can't I be there?" the little boy asked from his lap.  
  
"Because you're going to bed as soon as the movie is over," Robert said to him, putting a hand on his head and ruffling his son's blond hair. "What movie is it anyway?"  
  
"I was going to put something random on," Michael Dale said. His father picked up the remote and switched to a movie channel.  
  
What they ended up catching was the end of a kung fu movie. It wasn't one Robert recognized, but in general tone it was little different from the ones he'd grown up with. Robby was excited enough by it, cheering and clapping at the hero beating up bad guys. It brought a smile to his face at seeing his son enjoy himself so much. It reminded him of what life had been like when he was growing up, before Grandma and then Grandpa died…  
  
That thought stopped. Why had it entered his head. His grandparents were still alive. All of them. Why had he thought they were dead?  
  
"Looks like the movie's over," said Julia, bringing his attention back to the screen. "I wonder what the next one will be?"  
  
When they were greeted by an empty spacefield, Allen was the one who remarked, "Looks like science fiction." Credits and names appeared, names Robert thought he recognized. "Henry Morgan" and "William Davies" and "Sriroj Thiang" appeared among them.  
  
As the credits concluded, the opening shot moved to reveal a starship. It looked sleek and powerful from the front. About a quarter of the way back from the bow it slanted downward to show a large blue and gold piece, a dish of some sort, and more hull behind. As the ship moved by the screen, he saw that the top slanted downward not quite halfway down the length, going down by at least a third of the height before leveling out, with a prominent set of bay doors and one fairly large dock door present. The camera panned to show the rear section of the ship had four large engine pods arrayed in a flat X-shape around it. The whole thing was massive, looking like it would easily dwarf a modern day aircraft carrier.  
  
The camera panned back up and toward the front, showing the ship as if it was flying toward the camera. On the hull, black letters gave its name: _ASV Aurora_.  
  
This wasn't why Robert looked surprised. What surprised him was that he had known the name the moment he saw the ship.  
  
The camera panned in on the bridge, where Robert was stunned to see he was sitting in the center chair. Julia was beside him, both in those dark uniforms with red trim. The two men manning stations in front of them were from the images Robert had seen in his head. Angel and Cat were also present, sitting at various stations. "That's strange," he said.  
  
"What?" asked Julia.  
  
"The actors, I mean, they look…"  
  
Everyone looked at the screen, as if to see what he was talking about. Even as they did, Robert heard his own voice say, "What's our ETA, Nick?"  
  
The man to the left of the screen and Robert's right spoke up. "We're coming up on the colony now."  
  
"Oh, I see," Robby said from his lap. "The man in the middle chair looks a little like you, Daddy."  
  
"I suppose I see the resemblance," Michael Dale agreed.  
  
_Resemblance? It_ is _me!_ Robert didn't say that, though. "And the lady beside him…"  
  
"Well, she has Julia's hair," Anna agreed. "But the face isn't right."  
  
"And Angel and Cat…"  
  
Julia shrugged. "She's got muscles, but that's it." Julia gave him a concerned look. "Rob, are you okay?"  
  
"I'm…" Robert shook his head. "I guess I just found it strange to…"  
  
He didn't finish the line. Searing pain filled his head. He cried out. "Daddy?!" he heard his son shout, and panic flashed across the little boy's face before Robert lost sight of him. Again the images filled his head. The ship, _that ship_ , and those people. He knew them.  
  
Everything went black for what seemed to only be a moment. But when Robert's vision came back, he could tell more than a minute had passed. He was in the bedroom alone, lying on the bed. The space where Julia should have been laying was vacant.  
  
At first Robert thought he was alone. He realized he wasn't when a voice spoke up. "Ah, you're awake again," said the Doctor. He was standing at the foot of Robert's bed.  
  
"What…" Robert blinked. "What are you doing in my house?"  
  
"Well, I came to talk to you. Arrived just after your latest attack. Bit of bad timing, really." The Doctor shrugged. "But it's why I'm here."  
  
"Who…" The pain in his head throbbed, but it wasn't debilitating at the moment. "Who are you? What are you doing to me?"  
  
"Nothing, actually," he said. "This is all a side effect of what this place truly is." Seeing Robert's bewildered look, the Doctor shook his head. "You're feeling your memories intruding on this world. The two don't mix well, it's why you've been having these attacks."  
  
"My memories?" Robert shook his head. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Well, what else? Memories?" The Doctor plopped into the spare chair across from the bed. "Specifically, the memories of who and what you actually are."  
  
"Meaning…?"  
  
That caused a sigh and a roll of the Doctor's eyes. "Oh, you're going to draw it out. I don't want to draw this out, it's too important to draw out." Before Robert could ask what he meant again, the Doctor quickly added, "The real world!"  
  
"The real world?"  
  
"Yes. I'm here to help you with that." The Doctor gestured around the room. "Because this isn't the real world. It's a dream… well, it's rather more than a dream, actually, but I'm digressing. The point is that you're essentially asleep. And I'm here to help you wake up."


	4. Chapter 4

There were several ways Robert could have responded to the Doctor. That he decided to laugh at him was perhaps not the most diplomatic.  
  
"So this is all a dream? And you're… what? The part of me that wants to wake up?" Robert asked without hiding his skepticism.  
  
"Well, it's more than a dream. And I'm not part of you. Well, more to the point, I'm a part of you made from the Doctor to help you stay sane given what you did." The Doctor shrugged. "Of course, I never expected you to be in something like this."  
  
"You mean you expected me to be in, what, a different dream?"  
  
"I expected you to be trapped in a recurring cycle of images and places from across time, going mad from exposure to the Time Vortex," he answered. "I didn't expect you to be here. I'm not even sure where 'here' is, but I'm pretty sure how you got here. You've got that life energy connection going for you. That may have shunted your mind in here to protect you."  
  
Robert crossed his arms. He thought of calling for Julia, or his parents or grandparents, and asking why they let this man into his room. Then another thought came to him, and he couldn't quite hide his fear when he asked, "Where's my family?"  
  
"Hrm?"  
  
"My family," Robert repeated. "Where are they? Why would they let you bring me in here and not come in?"  
  
"Because I told them you needed rest and quiet," the Doctor said. "Although they really didn't pay me much heed. This place doesn't know how to deal with me. I'm inside of you, but I'm not really you… it's rather complicated, actually."  
  
Robert got off the bed and went to the door. The Doctor shook his head but said nothing, following Robert out into the empty house. "Julie? Robby?" Robert walked across the second floor and looked down to the dim lights of the dining room and kitchen. "Mom, Dad? Grandpa? Grandma?" He went down the stairs and looked around the dark house before looking back up at the Doctor, still standing on the second floor. "Where did they go? What did you do with them?"  
  
"Nothing," he replied. "I imagine you'll be told they went out. Although it's more likely this realm removed them for the moment so we could talk."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Robert shouted. "You keep saying things about this not being the real world, but it doesn't make sense!"  
  
"You and I both know that's wrong," the Doctor said. "I can sense it in you. You keep having glimpses of the life you had before. Of your ship, your friends, the world you came from. And it hurts, and that's why you keep having these blackouts. But you can't deny who you are forever. You have to accept the truth and recognize what this place is."  
  
"I don't have to do a damned thing," Robert shot back. "I want my family back and now."  
  
"You can't just ignore this, it's going to get worse. The fact is that you are not Robert Dale, member of the local farming family. You are Robert Dale, Captain of the Alliance _Starship Aurora_."  
  
Again the name was familiar. Robert bit back his response as he considered just how familiar it sounded. How right it sounded. He swallowed at the thought he'd felt earlier in the evening, about his grandparents being dead since he was a child.  
  
A real, terrible fear came to him. What if this man was right? What if this was all a dream of some sort, so powerful he forgot what was real and what wasn't? If it was… then what was the truth? What had happened to his family? Were his grandparents really dead? His parents? His sister?  
  
The Doctor nodded. "Yes," he said. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."  
  
  
  
  
Julia arrived at the medbay as quickly as she could once she received Leo's call. She found him looking over Robert. "What happened?"  
  
"We've had more anomalous behavior in his brain," Leo said. "The last was severe enough that I gave him a mild neuro-sedative."  
  
"Any idea what's causing it?" she asked.  
  
"I've got no idea." Leo nodded to the biobed display. "Honestly, I've looked through records on coma patients, and I've yet to find anything like this in them. Whatever's going on with Robert, it's something we've never seen before."  
  
Julia nodded and looked at her sleeping friend. She set her hand on his and grasped it. "Is he awake somehow? I mean, could that be it? He's awake but paralyzed?"  
  
"I can't tell. He can't be fully awake, not going by these scans, but there is something going on in his brain."  
  
"Then… do you think it's time?"  
  
"Time?" Leo asked the question a second before realizing what she meant. He quickly added, "If you're talking about transferring him, it wouldn't matter. There's nothing that the Fleet Hospital can do that I can't. Whatever this is…" Leo shook his head. "I can't tell you how it'll end."  
  
It was painful for her to hear that and to see Robert's condition. She could see the same was true with Leo. "Just… tell me if anything more changes?"  
  
"Like you have to ask."  
  
Julia sighed and nodded, accepting the point. "I just wanted to…"  
  
The blue light of her omnitool lit up at the back of her left hand joined by a tone. She tapped the light. "Andreys here," she said.  
  
" _Captain_." The voice was accented. It took Julia a moment to realize it was Lieutenant Sabiha Neyzi, one of the new officers assigned to the ship due to their casualties and transfers. " _Admiral Maran would like to speak with you. And Commander Locarno has returned_."  
  
"I'll see both in my old office on Deck 3."  
  
" _Very well_. _I shall relay the call._ "  
  
Julia lowered her left arm. "That's Jupap's replacement, right?" Leo asked.  
  
"Yeah," Julia said.  
  
"A lot of changes, a lot of new faces," Leo said. "It's funny how life changes sometimes."  
  
"And sometimes it's not." She said nothing else before walking out.  
  
After the lift trip to Deck 3, Julia went to her office. Or rather, her old office as First Officer. Once she was in her chair Julia tapped a key on her desk's control panel. Admiral Maran's image appeared on the screen. "What can I do for you, Admiral?"  
  
" _I'm just checking in, Captain_ ," he said. " _Commander Scott's filed his final report on the repairs. It looks like you're good to go in six days_."  
  
"All we're missing now is a full crew," Julia noted. "Will we have them all by then?"  
  
" _I've made sure Fleet Personnel is on the ball. I'm aware that you've had difficulties before due to certain influences._ "  
  
"Davies and Hawthorne," Julia murmured.  
  
" _It's not my place to remark on how the Defense Minister and the Vice Chief of Naval Operations do their duties_ ," Maran remarked. He knew how the political game was played too. " _The reason I called is that I notice your command crew is missing someone_. _Have you found a First Officer_?"  
  
"I'm going to interview Commander Jarod and Commander Locarno," Julia said. "If not them, well, I'll let you know if I can't find someone." Even as she said it, Julia knew her face gave away the truth.  
  
And it was clear Maran knew it. She was grateful he didn't outright remark on it. " _I understand. But if they don't accept, I'll need to find a replacement from the officer listings. There are some promising young officers coming up._ "  
  
"And how many of them have politics involved in putting them on this ship?"  
  
" _More than I care to count. But I wouldn't stick you with a political officer, Captain, rest assured the officers I'm proposing have been thoroughly vetted_. _I want to avoid any more issues like you had with Captain King when she was commanding the_ Sladen _._ "  
  
Julia didn't bother hiding her distaste at that memory. King had been in command of the ship filling in for the _Koenig_ while it was escorting the _Galactica_ and its Refugee Fleet. But she hadn't been full command branch; she had been a Naval Intelligence officer sent by Admiral Davies to spy on the _Aurora_ crew. The prospect of Davies doing that again was one Julia had already considered. "I'll give them a look if it comes to that, sir. But I'm hoping to get one of the others into the position. I think the remaining crew will find that… easier."  
  
Maran gave a nod of understanding. " _Of course. Maran out_."  
  
Julia let the call end and looked to her digital readers. She'd just started looking over a list of further officer replacements when the chime went off. "Come in," she said. She watched Locarno enter and said, "Welcome back, Nick."  
  
"Thanks." He nodded once and gave the room a close look. "Still in your old office?"  
  
"I'll move in a few days," she said. "Or whenever I have a First Officer selected."  
  
"Ah." Locarno smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I imagined you'd bring this up again."  
  
"Well, we're not getting split up anymore," she noted. "So I'd like you to reconsider."  
  
Locarno plopped into the chair and shook his head. "I'm not interested in a command position right now. I… I just don't think it's right."  
  
"It's got to be someone," Julia pointed out. "And you've come a long way since Nova Squad."  
  
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to command," he pointed out. "My answer is still no."  
  
For a moment Julia considered continuing to ask. But she stopped herself. If he didn't want to do it, forcing him to wouldn't work. "I suppose I was hoping you'd decide otherwise," she said. "Alright. I'll find someone else." She smiled at him despite the feeling of being let down. "How was the Academy?"  
  
Locarno shrugged in reply. "It was good. I had no trouble with the trainees. They're all great pilots and will make great helmsmen and helmswomen. Or helmspeople, in the case of the Gl'mulli recruit."  
  
"A Gl'mulli? Really?"  
  
He nodded. "We're getting volunteers from a number of the other species. We even had an Andorian and an Asari."  
  
"Huh. That's good, I suppose. Anything interesting happen? Any funny stories?"  
  
"Well…" Locarno cracked a grin upon thinking of one. "There was the point when Trainee St. Clair messed up his pre-flight check and missed the faulty thruster."  
  
"Ouch. I bet he hated missing his flight time."  
  
"Oh, he didn't." Locarno's smile became bemused. "I thought it might be character-building to make him do his full training flight with just one working maneuvering thruster. I had a shuttle ready to tractor him the entire time, of course, but seeing him spin around like a dog chasing its own tail was funny. And it works as a good reminder to everyone to pay attention on pre-flight checks."  
  
"I'll bet…"  
  
  
  
  
The moments stretched on like a yawning abyss that threatened to swallow Robert whole. He wanted to reject everything this strange 'Doctor' was telling him. But when he tried to, he found he couldn't. Within his heart Robert could sense that truth, that his family wasn't intact, that he had lost them. So many of them. This world where he woke up every day surrounded by those he had grown up loving was just an illusion.  
  
And that horrified him.  
  
Even worse was the Doctor's apology, which seemed to confirm his worst fears. His family wasn't with him anymore. Some, maybe all, were dead. He was alone.  
  
Robert went over and dropped onto the couch, where he cradled his head in his hands. The thought of being alone, of lost family, was tearing through him. Images came to mind of hospital beds and funeral caskets. A sheriff's deputy knocking on his door. The sterile halls of the county morgue.  
  
And three mangled, broken bodies on mortuary tables.  
  
"They're all dead," he murmured. "My grandparents. My parents and sister. I… oh God, they're all dead." He looked up at the tall figure calling himself the Doctor. "And the others. Their parents are all…"  
  
"It would appear so," said the Doctor.  
  
"And I'm… Julia and I aren't…" He swallowed. "And Little Robby isn't…"  
  
"You still have the others," the Doctor said. "And you nearly destroyed yourself saving them."  
  
Another series of images came to Robert. Of pleading with some sort of control console. Golden light erupting from within it when the console opened up. The bridge of that ship again… and Julia pleading with him to stop.  
  
She had kissed him. He could remember that. And he remembered the feeling of a link between them. Energy flowing from one to the other…  
  
"Julia saved my life," he said. "We… we connected. And it's what saved me." After a moment his head snapped up and his eyes focused on the Doctor. "Julia, she… is she okay? If that stuff nearly killed me…"  
  
"Well, that's a tricky one. I'm part of you, remember? I know what you know, roughly speaking. And you don't know how she's doing. Of course, if you're alive, there's good odds she is."  
  
"But that's not a guarantee," Robert pointed out. "I… she might be gone too." The thought hurt and brought forth tears to join those he'd felt over his lost family. "I can't… it's not fair." His voice grew hoarse. "Why do I keep losing the people I love?"  
  
"It's part of life. You know that," the Doctor said. "The others have suffered the same."  
  
This was true. But at that moment, at that time, it was a truth Robert found more painful than useful. In this world, everyone was happy. All of the families were intact. His family, Julia's, Zack's…  
  
They were all still alive. And everyone was _happy_.  
  
"You want me to leave," Robert said. "To leave this world and go back to… to whatever that other place is."  
  
"It's where you belong. This?" The Doctor gestured around. "Whatever this is, it's not real. It's…"  
  
" _It's real enough_ ," Robert insisted. He reached over to the coffee table and picked up a photo of his son, which he thrust at this interloper. " _He's_ real. I know that every time I hold onto him, every time he smiles at me and I feel that lump inside of me. He loves baseball and basketball. He loves to sit in my lap and watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. Whenever he has a nightmare he comes to us and climbs into our bed, and Julia puts one arm over him and I put another, and he gets this look like he's the happiest little boy who ever lived..." Robert stopped at that point and set the photo down, his point made.  
  
"He's a creation of this place," the Doctor insisted. "That's all."  
  
"He's more than that to me!" Robert shouted. He stomped up to the figure, who stood and met his glare. "I'm not leaving my family."  
  
"They're not your family. Out there is where the people you care for actually exist."  
  
Out there. In a world where his family was dead. Where his precious, sweet, loving little boy didn't exist.  
  
Outside there was a rustle of wind. It was already dark, but even the moonlight vanished behind dark clouds. A storm was forming.  
  
"You're needed," the Doctor insisted. "I'm sorry, but you need to wake up."  
  
Robert heard him and walked over to the window. Lightning flashed outside. The wind continued to grow stronger. As he listened to it, more images came to him. Images of struggle and strife and pain and fear.  
  
Images in contrast to this place. This warm, pleasant house, with his family alive, with all of his worries about romancing Julia meaningless. With a little boy he cherished.  
  
"I don't want to," Robert said. "I don't want to leave. You… you say this place isn't real, but for me? It's real enough. It's everything I could ever want in life, with everyone happy."  
  
"Except nobody else is happy," the Doctor pointed out. "Nobody else in this world is really alive. They're just extensions of your memories and desires."  
  
"And what does that make you? Some… mental program left by someone to steer me in the right direction? Or you actually a part of my mind in the end?"  
  
"If I weren't a part of you, I wouldn't be here," came the reply. The tall man drew up to him and met Robert eye-to-eye. "I'm here to bring you back to reality. To make sure you survived the process. And to tell you that you can't stay here forever. This…" He gestured around the house again. "...it's not what's real, and for that I'm truly sorry. You deserve to have a life like this."  
  
Their eye contact continued until Robert looked away and drew in a breath. The more he thought about it, the more this conversation continued, the more his memories asserted themselves. The bridge of the _Aurora_ kept appearing in his thoughts. His friends and comrades on the ship and how often he had felt awed by the fact they let him lead them. That was where his life had led him.  
  
_A life that ended_.  
  
The voice of the TARDIS sounded in his head. _You were warned. That life is over now. You cannot go back to it_.  
  
"I was told I can't go back," Robert said quietly. "That my life was over. I'm supposed to be dead."  
  
"There are a number of ways to interpret what the TARDIS meant," the Doctor pointed out. "Odds are that your life will change from everything you knew before. That's what happens when you look into the Time Vortex."  
  
Outside the storm was howling now. Rain and hail beat against the walls of the house. Robert listened to the roar of the wind against his home. "I don't want to go."  
  
"I know."  
  
"You said I deserved this."  
  
"You do. But this… isn't real living. And you can feel that now."  
  
He could. The memories flooding into him made that clear. His eyes kept moving to the family pictures. The pain in his heart grew to fill the loss he was feeling as he understood that they were gone.  
  
Finally he asked, "What am I supposed to do, then? How do I leave here?"  
  
The being in the form of the Doctor stepped toward the main door. He pulled it open, revealing the raging storm outside. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Robert felt the cool, vicious wind of the storm press against him. "You want me to go out into that?" Robert asked. "Why is it storming?"  
  
"Funny thing about these things. The metaphors can be rather unpleasant." The Doctor motioned to the outside. "You know that there is danger in the future. You've seen it in your dreams. This place responds to that knowledge. Stepping out into the storm shows you're ready to accept facing it. And you and I both know the answer to that."  
  
To that Robert swallowed. Every fiber of his being resonated with tension, the struggle between the part of him that was indeed accepting this, and the part of him that didn't want to leave the warmth and comfort of his family.  
  
His foot moved and he took his first step toward the door.  
  
  
  
  
Meridina and Lucy left the Lumantala home after a family breakfast and heartfelt goodbyes. Karesl provided them transportation to the Jantarihal Spaceport, where they would catch a shuttle to a transport ship about to jump to Earth L2M1. His driver remained behind while he escorted them to the terminal. "Again, my congratulations are to you, Lucy Lucero," he said, bowing his head toward her. "I am not so prideful to be incapable of admitting my error. My daughter showed great wisdom in training you."  
  
"Thank you again, _Mastrash_ Karesl," Lucy said. She returned the head bow.  
  
Karesl turned his attention to Meridina. "I miss having you in the Order, Meridina. But I am happy with one consequence of it." He extended his arms toward her, prompting Meridina to moved toward him and embrace him. "I am no longer obligated to treat you as anything but my daughter."  
  
"And I am happy that you are my father again," she replied.  
  
"I look forward to hearing more of your accomplishments in the Alliance," Karesl said before letting go. " _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , daughter."  
  
" _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , father."  
  
With that, the two separated. Lucy and Meridina took up their bags and headed for the shuttle terminal.  
  
  
  
  
The storm howled outside of the door. The vicious wind blasted Robert in the face as he took another step toward it. Another step toward a life of loss and danger and away from the life of family, of happiness and safety, that he had been enjoying. With each step his memories became clearer. He looked toward the Doctor, or rather the piece of him touched by the Doctor and made to help him, and drew in a breath before taking his next step.  
  
Every step was pain. Every step was one he didn't want to take. He didn't want to be without his grandparents again. Without his parents and sister. To see the pain in the others whenever their lost family was brought up. To go back to that existence where he and Julia were afraid of letting their relationship become romantic.  
  
To lose the son he never knew he'd wanted.  
  
The steps became harder to make from these thoughts. He felt like he was wading through mud instead of walking toward his front door.  
  
"It's for the better," the Doctor said to him as Robert finally stepped up beside him. Outside the door the winds drove on rain. Lightning flashed, thunder roared. Something terrible was out there, and it would fall to him to fight it.  
  
Robert couldn't help it. He stopped at the doorway for the moment. He couldn't move forward without focusing his will on it. He felt like he was about to tear out his own beating heart. "Right," he murmured. "I have to do it." He nodded to the other figure. "Let's go."  
  
He lifted his foot and moved it toward the door.  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
Robert stopped. He set his foot back down inside of the house before he turned.  
  
Little Robby was standing at the base of the stairs wearing his pajamas, with an unfamiliar comic book character as the prominent feature of the otherwise blue and green nightclothes. On the second floor was the rest of the family - Allen and Anne, Michael and Leigh, Susanna, Julia - standing and watching quietly. "Daddy, why are you going?" Robby asked.  
  
Robert swallowed. His throat felt parched. "I… I have to," he managed.  
  
The little boy ran up. "Please don't go, Daddy," he pleaded. "I'm scared."  
  
Sheer paternal instinct brought Robert down to a knee, allowing Robby to stretch his arms out as wide as he could and embrace Robert. The little boy and his head of golden blond hair pressed against his chest. "I don't want you to go," the boy cried. "I'm scared."  
  
Robert's arms came up and wrapped around the boy. "Don't be," he said softly. "Don't be scared."  
  
"Why are you going?"  
  
"Because…" Robert swallowed and considered the answer. So much of him didn't want to go. Wanted to stay here with those he loved. "I have to," he finally managed. "People need me."  
  
"But I need you. And Mama and Grandpa and Great-Grandpa…"  
  
Robert's eyes journeyed back up to his loved ones on the second floor. "This is where you belong, Rob," Allen Dale said. "You've done enough good. It's time for you to be happy with us." Allen's arms stretched out to take in Anne, Leigh, and Michael. Susanna and Julia stood to either side, putting their arms around the waists of Michael and Anne. "We're your family, and family is what matters."  
  
Pain filled Robert's heart. He knew this wasn't reality. This was something else. He should accept that those he loved were gone.  
  
But here they were. This wasn't some illusion. It was his grandparents. His parents. His sister. Alive, well, happy. With him, back on the family's farm, where generations of Dales had lived out their lives.  
  
And there was Julia, with him, all of their doubts gone. And the son they had brought into the world together, the sweet little boy crying in his arms. "Don't go Daddy," Little Robby pleaded again. "I don't want you to go."  
  
"I don't want to either," he whispered back. His tears dripped from his chin and fell into the boy's hair.  
  
"They're not real," said the Doctor. "You know that."  
  
Not real. Robert heard those words. He knew they were right.  
  
But they didn't feel right. Not when he could feel the warmth of his little boy. Or the very real hair from where his hand was holding Robby's head. And Robby's wet tears through the fabric of his shirt... How could this _not_ be real?  
  
"I love you Daddy, please don't leave," Little Robby pleaded. Robert's eyes blurred from the tears in his eyes. Everything about this hurt.  
  
Especially the fact that he was hurting his son.  
  
A hand touched his shoulder. "You know what you have to do," said the Doctor. His voice sounded over the growing howl of the winds outside.  
  
Robert drew in a breath. He let go of the little boy and gently stood up. He looked down at the pair of aquamarine eyes, reddened with tears, and thought his heart would rip itself in half.  
  
That feeling persisted when he turned to the open door and to the Doctor. The Doctor nodded and gestured to the door again. He held his arm out.  
  
In one lightning move Robert grabbed two fistfuls of the Doctor's shirt. The being, whatever he was in this place, stared at him in surprise in the second before Robert snarled and shoved him into the doorway. "What are you doing?!"  
  
"Get out of here!" Robert shouted. He gave the tall figure another shove, sending him flying out the door and into the storm. "Stay away from my family!"  
  
The suited figure scrambled to his feet. But he was too late.  
  
Robert slammed the door in his face.  
  
"You can't do this!" the Doctor cried through the door. "This isn't real! You've got to move on!"  
  
The words fell on deaf ears. Robert's hands gripped and turned the deadbolt lock and the knob lock next. Once the front door was secure, he turned and lifted his son into his arms. "I'm not leaving you," he promised Little Robby, while his tear-filled eyes glistened at the sight of his smiling, relieved family. "I'm not leaving any of you. Never again. Never again!"  
  
Outside there was more frantic knocking on the door. The winds howled louder, the lightning was brighter, and the thunder sounded like the roar of an offended sky god.  
  
Robert ignored it all. He walked with his smiling little boy back to the warmth of the living room, where his family waited for him.  
  
This was the life he wanted. The life he deserved. And the smiles on the faces of those he loved? That was all that mattered.


	5. Chapter 5

Zack found that he was indeed enjoying New Caprica. The colony had a similar feel to the New Liberty Colony save the different makeup of its residents. And the planet itself was a pleasant garden world for human life, with the local season approximating spring.  
  
It made his decision quite easy to follow through on.  
  
Another sunny day was promised and with Clara attending a morning shift at the local hospital, he had the day to himself. He left Clara's apartment and started to walk around the colony again. Part of it was simple sight-seeing, but another part was a personal errand.  
  
The blue light of his omnitool came to life over his left hand. He was getting a comm call. He tapped the light and was pleasantly surprised to see Julia's face appear on a holographic image hovering over his left forearm. "Hey," he said.  
  
" _Hey_ ," she answered. " _How is your leave going_?"  
  
"It's great. Clara's been showing me to all of the fun sights on New Caprica," Zack said. He stopped walking and leaned against the nearby building. "Anything new?"  
  
" _Rob's still in the coma_ ," Julia said, shaking her head. " _Leo thought he was picking up signs of increased neural activity but he's not sure what it means._ "  
  
Zack nodded once in acknowledgement. "Right. Well, I suppose we'll see how it goes. I guess you'll be transferring him to the Fleet Hospital?"  
  
" _In a few days, when we're officially back on duty_." Julia leaned forward at her desk. " _Although that's going to be tricky if I don't find a new first officer_."  
  
"I guess Nick's still saying 'No'? You can ask Jarod."  
  
" _I will, but I'm not sure he'll take it either_."  
  
Zack shook his head. "If that's an attempt to get me to say yes, sorry Julie."  
  
" _Rats_ ," she sighed, but there was a small smile on her face. " _I didn't think so. But I figured I'd give it a shot._ "  
  
Zack chuckled at that. "Well, I'm sure Maran's going to have a list of good candidates for it, at least."  
  
" _Oh, he does. But I think it'll be easier if it's someone already with the crew. Anyway, don't let me keep you from enjoying your leave. Say hello to Clara for me?_ "  
  
"I will," Zack promised. An amused grin came to his face. "And I'll do the same for Lee Adama." He tapped the control to end the call just as Julia's expression showed her (likely slight) irritation.  
  
With the call ended, he returned to the errand at hand. Not even a block further down the street was his destination, with the sign above the door reading "New Caprica Jeweler" in blue lettering on a white background.  
  
Had Zack not been thinking of other things, he might have noticed the hooded woman he beamed down with walking down the street as well. She ignored his presence in turn, continuing on from the Jeweler until she arrived at a side entrance to the Government Building. With rapid key presses on the holographic interface beside the door, she triggered it to open and went inside.  
  
  
  
  
Julia was still working on her paperwork before she received a call confirming that Jarod and Angel had arrived and wanted to see her and the others immediately. She agreed and called an impromptu conference in the senior officer conference lounge off of the Bridge.  
  
When Julia arrived, she found Leo had arrived ahead of her. Jarod and Angel were in seats and he was actively examining them. "They do good work on New Liberty," Leo said. "Although I wish you hadn't let it go so long without direct treatment."  
  
"We needed to get out of there," Angel pointed out. "Getting medical help was out of the question." She turned her head. Concern and a little fear were in her hazel eyes, which were now looking directly at Julia. "Where's Cat?" she asked.  
  
"Still on Vulcan attending that science conference," Julia said. "She's due home tomorrow. Why? What's wrong?"  
  
The door opened behind her. Nick Locarno entered. Several moments later Meridina joined them with Lucy in tow. Julia let her question go unanswered until Scotty and Tom Barnes arrived.  
  
Once everyone was paying attention Jarod informed them of their encounter at Corwinville. "I don't think this was random," he said, displaying an image of their attacker. "I think we were deliberately targeted."  
  
"Just what was this thing?" Julia studied it. "It looks Human, at least."  
  
"Apparently they're also called 'Pretenders'," Angel remarked, giving Jarod a look. "I hope you haven't been holding out on us, Jarod."  
  
"There are times I wish I could have been that fast," he answered.  
  
"Maybe they had cybernetic enhancement," Leo proposed. "If the cybernetics were all internal…"  
  
"My omnitool's passive sensors showed no sign of any cybernetics," Jarod said, shaking his head.  
  
"Besides, I doubt cybernetics were responsible for that thing's voice," Angel added. "It was raspy. Like a Zigonian with laryngitis. And that thing was unbeatable with how quick and strong it was."  
  
"What about your rescuer?" Meridina asked.  
  
"She didn't give a name, and she certainly had an attitude of her own," Angel remarked. "Some kind of bounty hunter, I think."  
  
"And again, it's just a coincidence she happened to come after this thing when it attacked us?" Jarod asked. "She even knew who we were." He shook his head. "There's more to this than a random attack."  
  
"I concur with Jarod," said Meridina. "This cannot be random chance."  
  
"Until we know for sure, all we can do is be careful," Julia remarked. ''Put together reports and file them with Maran. Alliance Intelligence can look into what these other 'Pretenders' are. If there's nothing else?" When nobody responded, Julia nodded and said, "Then you're all dismissed. And it's good to have everyone back."  
  
"Almost everyone," Angel said, sadness in her voice.  
  
Julia nodded and felt her mind drift at that remark. Not knowing if Robert would ever wake up… she reminded herself it was better than him being dead, but the uncertainty of his situation was a terrible pain in its own right.  
  
She pushed away that thought and called out, "Jarod, a minute?" She had spoken just as he got to the door. He turned and walked back to the table while the others continued to file out. "I need to discuss something with you."  
  
Jarod nodded without speaking a word.  
  
She went right to business. "I need a new first officer," Julia said. "Your name is on the top of the list automatically."  
  
Jarod initially responded with a chuckle. "I imagined you'd ask sooner or later."  
  
"And?"  
  
"I am not interested, and you know that," he replied, shaking his head.  
  
A resigned sigh was Julia's first reaction. "Well, it has to be someone," she insisted. "Do you have any suggestions?"  
  
Jarod shrugged. "Honestly I'm not sure anyone on the crew is interested. I know Nick isn't. Scotty's happy in Engineering. Angel likely isn't, and I don't see them giving her a two-grade promotion either. And that just leaves…" Jarod stopped. His face turned thoughtful.  
  
Julia gave him a quizzical look. Said look became one of realization when she figured out what Jarod had meant. "Do you think…"  
  
"All you can do is ask," he said.  
  
  
  
  
With his errands for the day done, Zack spent the rest of his free day seeing to curiosity. Said curiosity led him to the primary school, where he waited outside for the day's instruction to end. Children there waved at him, and some even approached him to ask when he would come back to see their leagues play. He gave them the best answers he could and sent them on their way.  
  
"You've become very popular with the children."  
  
Zack heard the words and turned slightly to face the speaker. Laura Roslyn was in a simple civilian jacket of blue color over a dark-colored shirt, with a blue skirt. Zack almost called her "Madame President" but stopped himself. "Ms. Roslyn."  
  
"Commander." She nodded. "It's good to see you. I hear you've been busy."  
  
Zack furrowed his brow. "Does everyone here interest themselves in what I'm up to?"  
  
To that Roslyn laughed. "Only those of us who stay in contact with Ms. Davis," Roslyn said. "I see her often enough."  
  
At that Zack winced and said, "Sorry, I forgot. How are you feeling?"  
  
"The cancer's been gone and isn't coming back, thank you," she answered. "But that's not the only reason I see Clara. She's our on-call nurse for tending to the children."  
  
"Right." Zack looked over the small building that functioned as the colony school. It was a prefab structure made to resemble a brick-built building, three stories high and about a hundred and twenty meters by forty in size. From the front he could just make out the fence for the outside recess area. "You enjoy this more, don't you?" he asked her.  
  
"You mean am I satisfied going from President to the head of a school?" Roslyn laughed. "I started in this profession. I got into politics to promote education. As far as my heart is concerned, this is where I belong."  
  
"Is that why Baltar supported the appointment?"  
  
"Possibly. Although given his mentality, he may have seen it as putting me in my place, so to speak," she said.  
  
Zack was suspicious that was the true motivation. Baltar had always struck him as being full of himself and convinced of his own superiority. "And how is the President of the Colonies? Clara tells me a lot about life here, but not how the politics are going."  
  
Roslyn chuckled softly. "Baltar is busy being Baltar. Zarek is running the show in the Quorum."  
  
"Well, I suppose it could be worse."'  
  
"Yes, it could be." Roslyn smiled at him. "Your people are the reason it's not."  
  
"The pleasure is ours, ma'am," he answered.  
  
  
  
  
Angel was waiting at the terminal of the Fleet Base for Caterina's shuttle when it arrived. She smiled despite herself at the sight of her happy sister emerging hand-in-hand with her girlfriend Violeta. "So, how was the egghead party?" Angel asked teasingly.  
  
"Angel!" Cat ran up and hugged her. "Where have you been? Everyone said they had no idea where you were off to."  
  
"Oh, just wandering," Angel said, completely truthful in word without giving away a bit of the truth. "And you didn't answer me. How was Vulcan?"  
  
"For my poor Vee, boring," Cat said. "It was pretty exciting for me, though. The combination of scientific communities in different universes is leading to a lot of new ideas and discoveries about subspace, hyperspace, and other fields related to exotic physics."  
  
"Sounds boring to me too," Angel teased, wrapping an arm around Cat's shoulders. "And is it just me, or did you grow taller in that time you were with the Doctor?"  
  
"Oh, maybe an inch. I doubt I'll grow any taller though."  
  
"So you're still my little sister. That's a relief."  
  
Both giggled in amusement at that while Violeta smiled quietly. With Angel's arm still on Cat's shoulders, they started walking through the terminal on their way to the terminal exit.  
  
  
  
  
Meridina found a sense of relief in returning to her quarters for the first time in weeks. It surprised her how much she missed the ship, and her place on it, and that prompted a moment of reflection on how her life had changed over the past year. The way her decisions had played out, and how different things were compared to what she had expected.  
  
Looking back, one thing was clear; she did not regret any of the major decisions that brought her to this point. Lucy's success had confirmed the wisdom of those decisions.  
  
Meridina finished swapping out her uniform for her basic garments and sat at her work desk to begin examining the security roster. She was pleased to see Lieutenant Richmond was remaining with the crew as one of her assistant chiefs. But the number of new names were a painful reminder of those who were not present any longer.  
  
She began to write up a short address to the new officers and security personnel. Her progress had brought her to the third paragraph when her door chime sounded. For a brief moment Meridina thought it might be Lucy, but her senses felt Lucy to be too far away to be the one at the door. "You may enter," she called out from the desk.  
  
The door slid open and Julia stepped in, still in uniform. "Again, welcome back," she said. "How was home?"  
  
Meridina looked up from her screen. A thoughtful look came to her face. "It is an interesting question for me, Captain."  
  
"These are your quarters, Meridina, first names work for me here," Julia insisted. "And what do you mean by that?"  
  
"Because I am thinking of this ship as my home," Meridina replied.  
  
Julia smiled at that. "You and me both. Then how was Gersal?"  
  
"More quiet and safe than it was during my prior visit," she admitted. "Lucy's training has ended. She has proven herself to be a powerful knight."  
  
"That's good to hear. So what's next for you?"  
  
"Duties. Lucy will remain my training partner if not my student, but that is for my off-hours." Meridina gestured to her system. "I am currently preparing a statement to give to my new security staff."  
  
Julia nodded once. "Right," she said. "Actually, that brings me to what I was going to ask you."  
  
"What is it you wish to ask?"  
  
"Well…" Julia sat down in one of the few spare chairs in the room, usually Lucy's. "I know this wasn't really your calling," she said. "You joined up to watch over us specifically due to all of this 'Bearers of the Dawn' stuff."  
  
"Yes," Meridina said. "I never intended to make my place permanent. But my destiny took me down a path I did not expect. I am an officer of the Stellar Navy and nothing else, now."  
  
"I'm glad to hear you say that, because that's why I'm coming to you." Julia leaned forward. "I need a first officer, Meridina."  
  
Meridina tilted her head slightly, seeming a little confused. "Well, I shall be glad to assist you in determining who best suits…"  
  
"That's not what I'm here to ask," Julia said. "I'm here to ask you if you'd take the post."  
  
Meridina's expression betrayed her surprise, and more than a little uncertainty. "You want me to be the first officer?"  
  
"Yes," said Julia. "I do."  
  
  
  
  
**Tag**  
  
  
The sun was out again with few clouds in the sky over New Caprica. Given the months he'd spent in space, being under a sunny blue sky yet again was something Zack was thoroughly enjoying. After another day of walking around the colony (and checking up on things at the jeweler) Zack walked into the main entrance of the New Caprica Hospital. The lobby area had a fine gray carpet with red lines running a pattern over it. Plushy chairs were available for those waiting to see the administration or simply waiting.  
  
Zack never got a chance to sit. Clara emerged from the offices with a young woman with a round face and brown hair. After a few moments Zack recognized her as Cally Tyrol. They walked up to him and Clara planted a small kiss on his cheek. "Did you wait for long?" she asked.  
  
"Not at all," he said. He looked to Cally. "Cally Tyrol, right?'  
  
"You remembered me," she said, grinning.  
  
"Yeah. Although I thought you were in the technical crew for the _Galactica_?"  
  
"I applied for early release to begin medical studies," she answered. "I'm trying to get into dental school."  
  
"You want to be a dentist? I never knew that." Zack extended his hand. When she took it he said, "Good luck with that."  
  
"Doctor Zhu offered to give her a recommendation to a dental school on New Canton L2M1," said Clara. "She's working toward that now. And she was a big help this morning, so I'd like to invite her to lunch."  
  
"You don't have to," Cally said. "I should probably get home to my baby."  
  
"Isn't Galen watching little Nicky?" Clara asked.  
  
"He is. But I don't want to make him wait."  
  
"Call him up and ask him to meet us at that Italian place on 2nd, then. I'm buying," Zack said.  
  
Cally smiled at that and reached into her pocket for a comm unit. While she spoke with Galen Zack and Clara stood by the door, giving her space. "That's sweet of you," said Clara. "All of your war hero earnings burning a hole in your pocket?"  
  
Zack chuckled. "Yeah. Well, I've gotten some prize money for shooting up Nazi troop transports and cargo carriers," he admitted. "It's something to make up for not having my quarters on the _Aurora_ for all that time."  
  
"You didn't when you were traveling with the Fleet," she pointed out.  
  
"No." He grinned at her. "But I had other benefits as soon as a lovely nurse showed up to brighten my Fridays." Clara giggled at that in the moment before their lips met for another kiss.  
  
The kiss ended when Cally stepped up to them, grinning as well. "Galen's going to meet us. Although he's not entirely sure what 'Italian' is."  
  
"Pasta, nice cheese, and tomato-based sauce," Zack answered while they stepped out of the door. "That about sums up Italian if you ask me."  
  
"It's a _little_ more than that," Clara pointed out.  
  
"Well, yeah, I forgot to mention pizza," Zack agreed.  
  
"Oh, I know that one!" Cally nodded, grinning. "It's that big wheel of baked dough with stuff on top."  
  
"Just another wonder that came from the country shaped like a boot."  
  
Again a confused expression came to Cally's face. Clara activated her multidevice and, with a couple taps, brought up a general information page on Earth and zoomed in on Italy. "Ohhhh," was Cally's response.  
  
The three crossed the street and stepped up to the waiting station for a public bus. On this side of the street was a line of shops, including a candy store and a florist, "Remind me to get you a car," Zack said to Clara.  
  
"There's not much to drive on yet," Clara replied.  
  
"Yeah, but it would mean less walking."  
  
"The bus will be here any moment."  
  
Clara's prediction proved accurate. The bus came around the far corner to their left and approached. Zack urged it onward if only to get off his feet.  
  
In the upper periphery of his vision, he noticed flashes of light. Out of curiosity he looked up while a shadow blotted out the sun.  
  
His jaw dropped in utter surprise. A moment later instinct took over.  
  
Cally and Clara both cried out in surprise at having Zack grab them and pull them toward the ground. As they went down the air filled with the telltale roar of weapons fire. The bus they had been waiting for was perforated by high velocity rounds that cut it, and the occupants, to pieces.  
  
All three looked up. " _Oh Gods_ ," came from Cally, her voice brimming with absolute terror at the same sight Zack had just seen.  
  
The sky over New Caprica Colony was no longer clear.  
  
The Cylons had arrived.


End file.
